Ho, May 3, GNA - The alleged murder of a 12-year-old boy at Juapong in April, this year, which had occasioned the vandalizing of the local Police Station by a mob, has turned out to be a hoax, as the boy has been found alive.

Maxwell Sodolo Goka, a pupil of the ARS Primary School was on Wednesday shown to journalists at the Volta Regional Police Command in Ho.

Goka told journalist that he escaped due to ill treatment by his aunt, who often denied him food and beat him mercilessly whenever there was a shortfall in the sales of doughnuts he sold for her.

He said he had had to throw away what was left of the doughnuts that day and with the 15,000 cedis sales he had made, embarked on a journey on foot, with the hope to get to his father, who was living in Accra or to his mother at Dzemeni-Togodo in the Volta Region. The mob had picked up a Michael Goza, a farmer and trader at Juapong and his wife Comfort Ativor, framed them up as having killed the boy for ritual purposes and were holding the two at the chief's palace when the police intervened and took them into custody.

The mob, claiming that the police were not doing enough to unravel the alleged murder, massed around the Police Station destroying anything they could lay hands on until police reinforcements arrived from Peki and Ho to save the situation.

Mr Godwin Geraldo, Chief Superintendent of Police in charge of South-Dayi Police District, who briefed journalists, said on April 12, this year Police at Juapong were informed that Goka had been missing since April 9.

He said the police sent messages to all stations to help trace the missing boy.

Chief Superintendent Geraldo said soon after that another security report alerted the Police that the couple had been picked up by a mob and was being held at the chief's palace and that the couple stood the risk of being lynched.

He said the police quickly moved to the palace and after a hectic struggle brought down the couple to the Police Station. The mob, led by Asafo groups massed-up around the Police Station demanding the release of the couple to them to administer "instant justice", the Police Commander said.

He said when the police refused to release the couple; the mob attacked the station destroying an impounded vehicle and also moved on to the couple's house where they damaged two vehicles belonging to the pair. "A police reinforcement had to drive through the missiles throwing mob to take the couple to safety at Peki", the Police Commander said. Mr Geraldo said investigations were still going on when Goka was found at Kpong, in the Eastern Region and brought to Juapong.

He said Goka, who had been living with a paternal aunt at Juapong had on two previous occasions escaped from home but was later found. Mr Bernard Dery, Volta Regional Police Commander ordered that the boy be handed over to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) as he had become "a juvenile in need of care".

He appealed to the public to develop confidence in the Police Service and to allow intensive investigations into cases they report. Miss Rita Narh, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Coordinator of the DVVSU at the Regional Police Command said she would collaborate with other social workers to assist Goka to resettle.