Cattle thief burnt alive

A SUSPECTED cattle thief was set ablaze by some angry youth at Agortor, a community near Osuwem in the Shai-Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region.

The deceased, who was identified as Osumanu Ahmedu, a 35-year-old butcher at Tulaku, Ashaiman, was arrested by the youth from Agortor in the bush when he was allegedly trying to cart away the cows in a Benz Sprinter bus with registration number GT 4627-14.

After his arrest, the irate youth reportedly surrounded him, mercilessly beat him up before pouring a substance suspected to be petrol on him and setting him ablaze.

Osumanu Ahmedu was said to have gone to the bush with the driver of the bus, Vudugah Edem, who reported himself at the Dawa Police Station before he was handed over to the Doryumu police where he was granted bail.

Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicates that the suspects were frequent visitors to the Agortor and Avieyeme communities, especially the bush where the herdsmen assemble their cattle for feeding, to steal some of them.

The Dodowa Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Samuel Kwesi Ofori, who confirmed the incident to DAILY GUIDE, said the suspect met his fate when he allegedly went to steal three cattle.

According to him, the driver and three other men managed to escape when the youth surged on them but Osumanu Ahmedu, who could not run for his life, was arrested and lynched and later set ablaze together with the bus.

He stated that the Command, upon hearing about the incident, quickly dispatched police personnel to the area and the charred body of the butcher was transported to the Police Hospital in Accra for autopsy.