Editorial News of Monday, 17 September 2001

Source: --

Police chain suspect to bed

The Independent writes that the death of police sergeant E.K. Owusu, a.k.a. Burger, the Presidential motorcade rider, and the arrest of Vincent Gbewornyo, the sixty three-year old suspect, is beginning to turn a new phase, as the family of the suspect have express fear for his life.

Mrs Cicilia Gbewornyo, the wife of the suspect, has expressed total shock at the way her husband who is presently on admission at the Police hospital is being handled by the police.

According to Radio news reports monitored by the paper last, she narrated how her husband whose blood pressure increased at an alarming rate is chained to his bed. She added that his blood pressure keeps rising, despite all efforts to stabilize it.

Mrs. Gbewornyo noted that the handcuff and other inhuman events being meted to her dear one ever since he was arrested, indicates that the police wants justice by fair or foul means and said "I feel the police wants to take justice into their own hands".

She seriously expressed the misgivings at how prisoners who were brought to the hospital are rather not in chain. "We were in the hospital and prisoners brought there were not in chain. Mr. Gbewornyo was not misbehaving in the ward, so I don't see the reason why somebody with high blood pressure should be chained to his bed" Mrs. Cecilia Gbewornyo was reported as saying.

She also denied the claim that her husband caused another accident in January this year near Apam and said he was only playing the role of a Good Samaritan and they were made to bear all the expenses.

"The police themselves presented us with telephone bill, transportation bill, mortuary, post-mortem and even we pay all the medical bills for the deceased and have been reporting to police"

She added; "we were in link with them (police). I am very surprised for them to have linked that incident to this one".