A 33-year old security officer, Anthony Cobbinah met his untimely death in a brawl over a pickaxe at Amanful, a suburb of Takoradi on the eve of a new year.

The deceased sustained a deep cut on the upper forehead and died shortly after admission at the Takoradi Hospital on December 30, 2012.

His body has been deposited at the Takoradi Hospital mogue awaiting autopsy whilst police investigations continue.

The Takoradi District Police Commander, Superintendent Kwadwo Nkansah confirmed the tragic incident to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Monday.

The 32-year old suspect, Kofi Owusu, a cleaner at the Takoradi branch of Vodafone-Ghana, has been arrested and provisionally charged with murder, and would be arraigned before court on Wednesday, January 2, next year.

He had been remanded into police custody at the Takoradi Central Police Station to assist the police in their investigations.

Narrating the incident to the GNA, the police said there was a fight between Cobbinah and Owusu on Sunday, December 23, 2012 around 0800 hours, and in the course of the scuffle, the suspect struck the deceased with a stone twice on the head resulting in the deceased goion unconscious.

The police said Cobbinah was rushed to the Kwesimintsim Polyclinic for treatment, but was discharged the same day.

Supt. Nkansah said Cobbinah's condition worsened on Sunday, December 30, and was admitted at the Takoradi Hospital but died shortly on arrival.

Explaining the cause of the fight, Supt Nkansah said both Cobbinah and Owusu executed a work for Vodafone-Ghana sometime ago, and after the work, one Danny collected a pickaxe, which was used to execute the work from Owusu for some work in his house.

Later, the pickaxe got missing and the company asked Owusu to replace the missing tool.

The deceased offered one for sale at the cost of GH¢6.00 to Danny, but the latter did not effect payment quickly to the deceased but promised to give the money to Owusu so that he (Owusu) would subsequently pay it to Cobbinah.

However, after some months, Cobbinah did not receive the money from Owusu and felt that he had received the money from Danny and had refused to pay it to him.

Against this backdrop, when Cobbinah met Owusu on the 23rd of December this month, the former demanded the money from the latter and a fight ensued between them.

The police said in the course of the brawl, Owusu picked a stone and hits the upper fore-head and back-head of Cobbinah resulting in serious injuries.

Cobbinah was sent to the Kwesimintsim Polyclinic but was discharged the same day, however his condition deteriorated a week later and was admitted at the Takoradi Hospital where he died afterwards.