Detective Inspector urges public not to tamper with crime scenes

Detective Inspector Abudulai Jallo-Sulemana of the East Legon Police Station on Monday urged the public not to tamper with crime scenes.

He said crime scenes contained physical evidence that was relevant to criminal instigations.

Detective Inspector Jallo-Sulemana made the appeal in his testimony before the Ayawaso West Wuogon Commission of Inquiry at the Christiansborg Castle, Osu, Accra.

Responding to a question from Professor Henrietta Mensa-Bunso, a Member of the Commission, Detective Inspector Jallo-Sulemana said whenever there was any issue of criminality at a particular site, there was the need for the public to desist from taking any article or object; adding that such an object could turn out to be a bomb, which could explode.

He urged the public to desist from going to crime scenes, especially shooting incidents and advised the public to desist from changing locations of clues at crime scenes, that could help them in their work as crime investigators.

It would be recalled that on Friday, March 1, Detective Inspector Jallo-Suleman and Mr Michael Cudjoe, a Ballistic Expert at the Forensic Laboratory of the Criminal Instigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, jointly conducted the Commissioners around the scene of violence at the La-Bawaleshie.

Detective Inspector Jallo-Sulemana said on the day of the incident, January 31, he and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Abena Benewa Kwabena, the District Crime Officer of East Legon Police District were together at scene of the violence at La-Bawaleshie.

He said some of the evidence they gathered at the crime scene were three spent bullet shells, which he had since forwarded together with a written report on the event to the Divisional Crime Officer of the Airport Police Division.

Mr Eric Osei-Mensah, the Counsel of the Commission, wanted to know from Detective Inspector Jallo-Sulemana, whether what DSP Kwabena had earlier told the Commission that she together with him (Jallo-Sulemana) spotted a Community Youth Chief in possession of some spent bullet shells at the scene of the violence.

Detective Inspector Jallo-Sulemana answered in the affirmative, stating that on that faithful day he spotted the Community Youth Chief holding a transparent polyethene bag which contained spent bullet shells around the premises of Mr Delali Kwesi Brempong, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Candidate in the by-election.

He said the Community Youth Chief told him that there were 37 spent bullet shells, which he had picked at the scene.

He noted that the Community Youth Chief allowed him to take pictures of the spent bullet shells.

Mr Justice Francis Emile Short, the Chairman of the Ayawaso West Wuogon Commission of Inquiry asked Detective Inspector Jallo-Sulemana, why he failed to collect the spent bullet shells from the Community Youth Chief for the purposes of their investigations.

Detective Inspector Jallo-Sulemana replied that the atmosphere at the scene of the violence was not conducive enough for him to collect the spent bullet shells.

He said their investigations indicated that the Community Youth Chief works at Agbogloshie in Accra; and that they were hoping to get in touch with him for the spent bullet shells by the close of this week.

He told the Commission that on the day of the incident, eight people were brought to the East Legon Police Station by the Special Weapons and Tactic (SWAT) team from the scene of the violence, out of which seven were issued with Police Medical forms and taken to the Hospital.

He said the other person, who said he was a passer-by had his statement taken.

Mr Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, a former Inspector General of Police and a Member of the Commission, asked Detective Inspector Jallo-Suleman whether he was aware that DSP Kwabena had informed the Commission that she still had two spent bullet shells in her possession?

To this, Detective Inspector-Jallo-Sulemana, replied that it might have escaped her, because she had earlier asked him to forward the specimens to the Divisional Crime Officer, which he did.

Following outbreak of violence on January 31, during the Ayawaso West Wuogon Parliamentary by-election, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo setup the Commission to conduct a far-reaching investigation, which would sustain the peace of the nation.