Returnee attacked at beach for having gay relations with jailed colleague in US

The woes of one Nabil Kassim couldn't get any worse after the man recently deported from the United States of America was mercilessly beaten by his childhood friends when he told them about his intimate relationship with another of their friends, Prince Awuley who is still serving jail time in the US.

Holiday makers at the La Pleasure Beach in Accra on May Day were dumbfounded when a group of young men also engaging in the festivities suddenly pounced on one of their colleagues and started beating him mercilessly. Many thought he was a thief who had been caught in the act but when eyewitnesses got closer to ask what he had done, they were shocked to be told they were beating him because he confessed to being gay.

Further enquiries revealed that the victim, 33-year-old Kassim Nabil returned to Ghana some few months ago after an almost decade's sojourn in New York, USA following his deportation after serving jail time for a crime he won't reveal.

One of his close friends at Alajo in Accra where they reside however managed to get him to confess that their other childhood friend he travelled to America with, Prince Awuley was still in prison and also that the two were in a gay relationship before their time in jail.

This apparently angered his friends and family who got wind of the information and therefore all regarded him as a disgrace and an outcast. They therefore planned to effect their own punishment on him for the perceived abominable act and putting the entire neighbourhood to shame, insinuating that could be the reason he was deported without bringing any properties back home.

They therefore plotted to inflict the mob action on him by luring him to the beach on the holiday to apparently have fun. Little did he know that it was to turn out to be the day he will receive the beating of his life when the friends numbering about eight, pounced on him in the midst of hundreds of merrymakers. He was only lucky to be saved by the public who intervened after hearing of the reason why he was being attacked.

The rescuers took him away from the group of friends and managed to help him escape from the beach with his destination unknown as he confirmed his fears of going back to his neighbourhood because he believes they will continue to threaten his life.

When this reporter visited the neighbourhood for more info, it was revealed that Prince Awuley who is still in prison in the US and his family were also targeted by the same irate youth who attacked Nabil Kassim at the beach which has resulted in the people of Alajo threatening Awuley's family. Indeed, the group set a fire to the house that Awuley bought when he was last in Ghana just to send a message to him and his family.

"We shall burn Nabil and Prince to death because Islam abhors homosexuality," a highly respected Islamic leader in Alajo threatened openly.

He was fully supported by one of the men who led the manhunt for the AWOL Kassim. “We shall burn or bury Nabil and Prince alive to serve as a deterrent to others,” he said.