Armed Robbers Strike Pastor

Wed, 24 Jul 2002 Source: Chronicle

Armed robbers in the early hours of last Saturday attacked and robbed the premises of the head pastor of the New Church at Kwahu Asakraka, Rev. Martin Kofi Gyamfi, and Mr. Emmanuel Donkor Dankyi, the Eastern regional budget officer of the regional administration, who had travelled to his hometown, Kwahu Asakraka, to attend a funeral over the weekend.
Speaking to this reporter at his residence, the shocked and disturbed minister stated that violent banging of their door awakened him and his family, and before they could realise it the robbers, about six of them had used concrete blocks to force all the three doors leading to his bedroom open.
He said the robbers ordered him to surrender all the foreign currency brought to him by some American members of the church, who recently visited the local church, which was to be used to enhance activities of a school the church had built.
According to him, when he resisted, one of the robbers, holding a cutlass, used it to hit him several times in the stomach.
The robbers, he said, were armed with pistols, a shotgun and other dangerous implements.
They went on to ransack the rooms amid threats of death, and succeeded in bolting with $803, ?3,000,000, a mobile phone and video deck, among other personal effects, and used his personal BMW car to escape, which they abandoned on a feeder road, leading to Ampemkrom, near Nkawkaw.
From the Reverend's house, the robbers attacked the house of Mr. Dankyi, locked him and his family into a room and also robbed them of ?2,000,000, a wrist watch and a mobile phone .
According to Mr. Dankyi, only one of the robbers was wearing a mask and stood at a distance without talking, which suggested that he might be a local person, who could be easily identified.
He said the robbers stated that they had a list of personalities to be attacked in the area.
A brother of the Rev.Gyamfi Owusu, a retired police officer, who attempted to go out and mobilise some people to confront the robbers, was assaulted by them and bundled into the same small room the budget officer and his family were being kept .
Meanwhile, a number of people this reporter interviewed on the matter appealed to the police in the area to be extra alert at the barriers during the night since the robbers were able to cross through police barriers with the seized vehicle and the items without detection

Armed robbers in the early hours of last Saturday attacked and robbed the premises of the head pastor of the New Church at Kwahu Asakraka, Rev. Martin Kofi Gyamfi, and Mr. Emmanuel Donkor Dankyi, the Eastern regional budget officer of the regional administration, who had travelled to his hometown, Kwahu Asakraka, to attend a funeral over the weekend.
Speaking to this reporter at his residence, the shocked and disturbed minister stated that violent banging of their door awakened him and his family, and before they could realise it the robbers, about six of them had used concrete blocks to force all the three doors leading to his bedroom open.
He said the robbers ordered him to surrender all the foreign currency brought to him by some American members of the church, who recently visited the local church, which was to be used to enhance activities of a school the church had built.
According to him, when he resisted, one of the robbers, holding a cutlass, used it to hit him several times in the stomach.
The robbers, he said, were armed with pistols, a shotgun and other dangerous implements.
They went on to ransack the rooms amid threats of death, and succeeded in bolting with $803, ?3,000,000, a mobile phone and video deck, among other personal effects, and used his personal BMW car to escape, which they abandoned on a feeder road, leading to Ampemkrom, near Nkawkaw.
From the Reverend's house, the robbers attacked the house of Mr. Dankyi, locked him and his family into a room and also robbed them of ?2,000,000, a wrist watch and a mobile phone .
According to Mr. Dankyi, only one of the robbers was wearing a mask and stood at a distance without talking, which suggested that he might be a local person, who could be easily identified.
He said the robbers stated that they had a list of personalities to be attacked in the area.
A brother of the Rev.Gyamfi Owusu, a retired police officer, who attempted to go out and mobilise some people to confront the robbers, was assaulted by them and bundled into the same small room the budget officer and his family were being kept .
Meanwhile, a number of people this reporter interviewed on the matter appealed to the police in the area to be extra alert at the barriers during the night since the robbers were able to cross through police barriers with the seized vehicle and the items without detection

Source: Chronicle