Cop Shoots Man Over Grasscutter

A police constable at Bechem, Constable Tanko, allegedly shot and killed one person and seriously injured another when a hunter refused to sell him a grasscutter the hunter had killed.

According to an eyewitness, Mr Samuel Asamoah, around 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday, the hunter, Oscar Atweneboana, who is a regular supplier for the staff of the Bechem branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), went to sell a grasscutter he had killed to the bank manager.

He said initially, Constable Tanko, who was on guard duty at the bank prevented the hunter from entering the bank, premises by closing the gate, but later allowed him inside. When Constable Tanko saw the game, he asked Atweneboana to sell it to him instead but the hunter insisted that he would sell it only to the bank manager, since he is a regular customer.

According to the eyewitness, Atweneboana’s action infuriated the policeman who slapped and booted him down. Mr Asamoah said before he fell down, the hunter firmly held the policeman’s, uniform and struggled with him.

Two other policemen, one of whom is known as Constable Moses Dadzie, joined their colleague to brutally assault Atweneboana and dragged him on the ground from the bank premises to the Bechem Police Station, a distance of about 200 metres.

Mr Asamoah said the hunter screamed for help and attracted a large crowd, mostly the youth of Bechem, who rushed to the police station to arrange for bail for him so that they could send him to hospital for treatment, but the police turned down their request.

The eyewitness claimed the police fired about 150 warning shots to scare the mob but they retaliated by throwing stones at the policemen.

A bullet from one of the shots hit the head of Kofi James, a labourer of the Tano District Assembly, who was going to buy food for his family, killing him instantly. Another bullet hit the thigh of a stranger who had just alighted from a Sunyani -bound STC bus.

Mr Asamoah stated that bullets from the police warning shots also damaged the back window and bonnet of a stationary Mitsubishi taxi cab number AS 363 F, while the angry youth also smashed the windscreen, side glass and tail lights of a police patrol van number GP 1292.

According to the eyewitness, but for the timely intervention of the Tano District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Nicholas Lenin Anane-Adjei, and member of the District Security Committee (DISEC), the irate crowd would have burnt down the Bechem Police Station.

The Tano DCE, Mr Anane-Adjei, told the Graphic that the DISEC has taken a number of decisions to reduce tension in the town as a result of the incident. He said as a first step, the hunter has been released from police custody, pending further investigations into the matter.