Crime & Punishment of Wednesday, 19 August 2015

Source: Daily Guide

Police chase gay man attackers

PolicePolice

The police have launched a search for some irate youth that brutally assaulted a man suspected to be a homosexual at Nima, a suburb of Accra.

The victim, identified as Hamza Sanusi, was captured in a video footage showing some Nima youth assaulting him while accusing him of being a homosexual in the sprawling Accra suburb. The video had gone viral on the social media and other platforms over the weekend.

Some recipients traced the source of the said video to the United States. It had purportedly come via the WhatsApp social media back to Ghana.

ASP Effia Tengey, the Accra Regional police spokeswoman told DAILY GUIDE that a formal complaint was lodged by the victim to the Nima police on August 15, 2015.

The victim reported that on August 14, 2015, at about 12:05 am, he was assaulted by one Sulley and about 20 others without any provocation.

He was accordingly issued with a medical report form after his statement had been taken.

The police spokeswoman said investigations revealed that the victim was assaulted after he had contacted one Fuseini to be his friend.

Efforts are being made to arrest the people who were captured assaulting the victim.

It would be recalled that DAILY GUIDE published a story of a suspected gay man who was stripped naked and assaulted by some youth of Nima.

The video shows the group, some wielding planks and pieces of stick beating the suspect amidst a long session of interrogations in Hausa.

The lead interrogator posed questions suggesting that the suspect was spotted walking towards the direction of the Nima Police Station through the New Nation School seeking to find out why he was heading that way with a small boy.

Mr Hamza Sanusi started his narration thus: “I told him that I want him to be my friend and so asked for his mobile phone number.”

The angry interrogator asked where the victim was going with the boy when he was spotted, adding that he (interrogator) was standing with the boy when the suspected gay called his (boy’s) number and asked that he (boy) meet him at the Shell filling station, towards New Nation School.

“He asked that we find a spot where we can chat so we went to De Youngsters” to which the interrogator retorted that all he (suspect) sought to do was to engage in anal sex with the boy in the darkness.

At this stage, the crowd of angry youth surged on their prey, some landing him with slaps for which the interrogator yelled for cessation so he could proceed with his questions.

Some suggested that they whip him, to which the interrogator said no adding that “we would convert you, give you a girl and every fortnight we would inspect you. Stop using cosmetics.”

Homosexual activities are on the rise in Nima, a situation many of the youth are unenthused about and have embarked on a mission to reverse the trend – suburb being largely a Muslim dominated area.