Man Lynched On False Alarm

Kumasi -- A FALSE alarm allegedly raised by a landlady at Asawasi, a suburb here, that her tenant was a thief, led to the lynching of the tenant?s friend by a mob, police have said.

Police later found out that the landlady, Rabiatu Adam, had a misunderstanding with the tenant over rent advance.

The victim, Awal Awonu, 35, was said to have accompanied the tenant, Yakubu Agah, to serve the landlady with an invitation letter from the Rent Control Department to Rabiatu.

The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, ACP Frank Adu Poku, told the Times that Rabiatu and two members of the crowd, one of whom was identified as Kofi Frimpong, have been arraigned at a Magistrate?s Court at Ashanti New Town for murder and raising false alarm.

Their plea was not taken and they were remanded in custody until April 27.

Mr Adu Poku said Agah and Rabiatu lived in the same house at Asawasi until Agah decided to find another place because the room was too small for him.

Agah therefore decided to let his brother occupy the room until the rent advance he had paid was exhausted but Rabiatu disagreed.

Agah therefore sought the intervention of the Rent Control Department who sat on the case once without arriving at a decision.

On April 20, Agah and his friend went for a letter from the department inviting Rabiatu for another meeting but on seeing them she gave a false alarm that they were thieves. A crowd from the neighbourhood, some armed with pistols, knives, clubs and cement blocks, attacked them.

According to Mr Adu Poku, in the melee, Awonu allegedly stabbed Kofi Frimpong and that might have incensed the mob to lynch him.