Cop Kills Bike Repairer

Police in Sunyani on Monday evening shot and killed a 24-year-old motor bike repairer, Osei Kwabena Aberega, at Odumase in the Sunyani West District of the Brong Ahafo Region.

The unfortunate incident, which happened on the Odumase -Adantia road, has created tension at the community making residents to become very worried.
The community protested on Tuesday against the conduct of the police.
An eyewitness, who did not want to be named, said the incident happened in her presence around 9:15pm on Monday evening, when she was packing her wares from her store to go home.
She said she saw the police arresting one man, who is in custody now, claiming he was smoking weed (marijuana) with his friend Kwabina Osei Aberega, now deceased.
According to her, the man in custody, who was by then handcuffed, was crying and pleaded with the police to let him go because he was not smoking marijuana since he was from the Odumase Secondary School campus, where he worked as a pantry man.
The eye-witness said when  Kwabena Osei Aberega saw the maltreatment being meted out to his friend by the police, he took to his heels and one of the policemen went after him.
She further mentioned that she saw the police returning from the direction where he had followed Kwabina Osei but didn’t see Kwabina again until late in the night that she heard that he had been shot dead.
When DAILY GUIDE visited the deceased house on Wednesday morning, the family expressed worry over the way the police were handling the issue and claimed their son was not a weed smoker.
The sister of the deceased, Comfort Aberega, who went to the mortuary to see the body of his younger brother, expressed deep sorrow over the incident.
She said the police had refused to release the body to them because they claimed they were waiting for post mortem to be done on the body to ascertain whether it was truly the gun that killed him.
The father of the deceased, Anaaba Aberega, who was in tears when DAILY GUIDE visited the house, called on the authorities to investigate his son’s death and bring the offender to book since he claimed his son was not a weed smoker.
Meanwhile the Brong Ahafo Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Christopher Tawiah, said the police had begun investigations into the matter.
According to him, the police personnel were on patrol on Monday when the deceased and his accomplice, Alidu Ibrahim (now in custody), were found smoking weed.
They were ordered to stop but the deceased took to his heels, he said.
The police PRO narrated that one of the police officers gave him a hot chase and arrested him, but in the process of being handcuffed, the deceased struggled with the police officer who was armed.
He said in the process, the policeman’s riffle went off hitting the victim on the side of his waist.
ASP Tawiah alleged the victim ran for about 200 metres and fell down dead. He said the body had since been deposited at the Brong Ahafo Regional Hospital morgue.
ASP Christopher Tawiah stated that the policeman, who was involved in the shooting incident, had been arrested to assist in investigations.
 From Vivianna Mensah, Sunyani