2 sentenced to life imprisonment for 2017 Lapaz police shooting

Two men: Kassim Munkaila aka Ekpe Macho and Abdul Rahim aka Spata, have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the killing of a police officer and the attempted murder of another during a 2017 incident at Lapaz in the Greater Accra Region.

The convicts were charged with conspiracy and murder over the death of Constable Daniel Owusu, who was shot and killed instantly, and for the attempted murder of Constable Ziblim Alhassan, who sustained gunshot injuries but survived.

According to a report by dailyguidenetwork.com on November 25, 2025, the officers were on routine community patrol at Abeka Lapaz on July 13, 2017, when the convicts, riding an unregistered motorbike, opened fire without provocation.

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Constable Alhassan was first shot at a traffic light while helping a pedestrian, falling from his motorbike after being hit.

Constable Owusu, who was behind him, was also shot and killed instantly.

The killing sparked public outrage over police safety in Ghana.

The convicts went into hiding, prompting the Ghana Police Service to place a GH¢10,000 bounty on them.

They were later arrested through an intelligence-led operation and reportedly confessed to the crime during interrogation.

During the trial, presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo of the Court of Appeal, sitting as an additional High Court judge, the convicts pleaded not guilty but were found guilty by a unanimous seven-member jury and sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor.

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Constable Owusu, who was enlisted in the Ghana Police Service on October 16, 2012, and posted to the Community Policing Unit, was laid to rest following an autopsy that confirmed hemorrhagic shock, severe chest injury, and gunshot wounds as the cause of death.

The incident had drawn condolences from then Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, then Interior Minister Ambrose Dery, and Inspector General of Police David Asante-Apeatu, who visited the family of the late officer.

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