Family demands independent investigation into police killing of relative

The family of Emmanuel Amofa, who was allegedly taken for an armed robber and killed by a Police Patrol Team, Friday, appealed to the Inspector of General Police and the Ghana Police Council to cause an independent criminal enquiry into the incident.

Amofa, 27, who was a resident of Agbogba, a suburb of Accra, was shot dead in the early hours of Monday, April 16.

According to the Patrol Team, they spotted three men smoking in front of a drinking spot and accosted them.

After interrogating them, they searched the suspects and found a locally manufactured pistol strapped to the waist of Amofa.

The Police said Amofa kicked the officer conducting the search and attempted to scale a wall close to the drinking spot; but the Police shot him in the process, resulting in his death.

However,  at a press conference, in Accra, Nana Akua Amofa, the sister  of the deceased, rejected the Police’s statement that their brother was an armed robber, alleging that the Patrol Team were covering-up their crime against humanity.

Nana Amofa said from the family’s initial investigation and eye witness accounts, they had learned that their brother posed no danger to the Police before he was shot.

These include those of Amofa’s friend, Richard and Kwame Baah, a bar attendant, who were arrested and locked up in Police cells. They have, subsequently, been granted bail.

Nana Amofa said her brother resided with her and had left home on Sunday, April 15, at about 1800 hours, to attend a funeral with a couple of his friends in the neighbourhood.

She said at about an hour after midnight, Amofa and Richard were standing in front of a drinking spot, where Baah worked.

Nana Amofa said a Police Patrol Team pulled up in a vehicle and stopped in front of them and Amofa stepped into the drinking spot; but he was confronted by the Police.

After searching the other guys outside the drinking spot, they pulled Amofa into the bucket of their pick-up vehicle.

According to Nana Amofa, he was then subjected to severe beatings and molestation and when he could no longer bear it, he took to his heels, while the Police pursued him amid sporadic gunfire.

She said in an attempt to seek refuge, Amofa jumped unto the wall to enter the house of Mr Mensah, their father’s friend.

“These policemen chased my brother, while shooting to kill him and putting the lives of Mr Mensah’s family at risk,” she stated.

“The Police caught my brother alive behind the main building and shot him in cold blood, despite his cries of innocence.”

She said the claim by the Police that Amofa had concealed a gun around his waist, was unfounded and stressed that the bar attendant attested to that.

Nana Amofa said the bar attendant claimed that there were about four male customers seated and drinking in the bar, long before the arrival of Amofa and the Police team.

She said the Amofa Family believed that their brother was gruesomely murdered and were, therefore, asking the Police Authority to bring the perpetrators to book.

“We believe it’s our right to know the true events leading to that gruesome murder…, and consider the Police’s claim that he was an armed robber, a conscious attempt to justify their crime and besmear his good name”.

Source: GNA

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