Crime & Punishment of Friday, 19 June 2020

Source: starrfm.com.gh

Nima: MP calls for justice after 'notorious land guard' hacks constituent

The victim Alhassan Issaka (L) and his attacker Sulley Hussein (R) The victim Alhassan Issaka (L) and his attacker Sulley Hussein (R)

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso East Constituency, Naser Toure Mahama, has made a strong call for justice after a man widely described as a “notorious land guard” in Nima slashed a resident with a cutlass in the wake of a heated argument.

Several residents who witnessed the gruesome incident in the area are backing the MP’s call for Sulley Hussein, who is reported to have been terrorising Nima residents with a familiar tag “Achie Dondu” as his nickname, to be prosecuted for the cutlass attack he visited on Alhassan Issaka.

The cutlass wound is said to be so deep the victim has been referred twice so far for medical attention. He was first admitted at the Maamobi General Hospital. Later, he was transferred to the 37 Military Hospital and was sent later from that facility to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

“This is not the first time Achie Dondu has been involved in this kind of attack in Nima or in Ayawaso East. He has had a lot of issues with people. He is seen at any time with a gun. You can’t even tell where he gets the gun. Just a small argument, then, he pulls the gun on people. That is what he has been doing. This time, we are saying no to him. We want the police to act. The law must take its course. We will make sure that he is prosecuted.

“We want justice on this particular offence he has committed. Nima is a peaceful place now. From the Nima Roundabout to Maamobi, you can’t even count the number of banks you will see; they are many. It is because Nima is a peaceful area you can see all these businesses. Nima is becoming a business centre. So, if people like Achie Dondu are in our community, they are going to scare investors away from our community. We want the law to work on him. Justice must be done,” the Ayawaso East Constituency lawmaker, visibly worried, told Starr News when he paid a visit to the recuperating victim (Alhassan Issaka) on Thursday to console him.

Eyewitnesses’ Accounts

According to eyewitnesses, the row that led to the cutlass attack on Alhassan Issaka started when Sulley (Achie Dondu) verbally assaulted an elder brother to the victim, Sumaila Issaka Yabre, who is also a respected opinion leader in Nima.

Reports say Sulley had impersonated the owner of an internet café in the community and was exposed through an investigation made by Sumaila. Upset, Sulley resorted to passing unprintable remarks on the respected opinion leader in public. Some residents, who look up to Sumaila in Nima and say Sulley has been in the habit of using abusive words on elderly people and intimidating members of the community, took offence and confronted Sulley as he continued to spew insults and threats.

The “notorious land guard” disappeared from the scene. Soon after, some people raised the alarm that he had gone for a cutlass and was on his way back to the scene. News of the looming cutlass attack prompted Alhassan, who was among those who had openly condemned Sulley for using abusive words on Sumaila (his elder brother) without restraint, to pick up a shovel in self-defence.




As Alhassan waited, Sulley reemerged with his brother, both of them carrying cutlasses. Sulley’s brother rushed to Alhassan and engaged him in a brawl whilst Sulley also went on rampage against the onlookers around. Sulley shattered a number of canopies providing shade for some mobile-money operators around the scene with his cutlass and chased away everybody in sight with the weapon. As Alhassan and Sulley’s brother struggled to overpower each other, Sulley himself moved nearer and lifted the cutlass in his hand from behind Alhassan as if to strike Alhassan in the head. A chorused scream from a frightened crowd drew Alhassan’s attention to the nearing deadly strike. Alhassan turned his face back. Sulley descended the cutlass in no time. But Alhassan shielded his head with one arm as the other arm was engaged by Sulley’s brother. The cutlass came down hard, cutting him deep around the left elbow.

“Alhassan was bleeding profusely. The next thing people were thinking was how to organise and take him to hospital. As they were doing that, people saw Achie Dondu and his brother as they both mounted one motorbike and fled,” Sumaila, also known as “Mullar” in Nima, told Starr News.

He added: “Achie Dondu torments people. He has no respect for anyone. I, for one, am his target. Anytime he sees me, he hurls insults at me.”

Whilst Sulley is said to be on the run, Alhassan’s family and eyewitnesses, some of whom reportedly got injured as they dived for cover from Sulley’s cutlass rampage, have registered complaints officially at the Nima Police Station against Sulley.