A man who allegedly tried stealing a car and shot the owner for demanding payment has been arrested by officers from the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Albert Naja, 32, expressed interest in buying a Toyota Rav 4 vehicle with registration number AS 7477-13 which had been displayed for sale at Dzorwulu in Accra but unknown to the owner, the buyer had other motives.
Director-General of CID, Commissioner of Police (COP) Prosper Kwame Agblor, told Daily Guide that though the incident occurred on February 14, 2013, the suspect was picked up on August 11, 2013 from his hideout at Sofoline in Kumasi, Ashanti Region.
Narrating the incident, the CID boss said on February 9, 2013 the suspect approached the owner of the car, Emelda Dodaa, a 35-year-old business woman who had her number displayed on the car that he wanted to buy it.
Albert, who lives at Haatso, a suburb of Accra requested to test-drive the car which was displayed near Fiesta Royale Hotel at Dzorwulu.
“He drove off and never returned the car,” COP Agblor said adding that “for four days the owner kept calling him and demanding that he could not keep the car since it has not been paid for.”
However, on February 14, which was the fifth day since the suspect drove the car away, he met the car owner who was then caught up in traffic jam at Dzorwulu with information that the money was in his bank account and that he was ready to transfer it into the lady’s account.
The CID boss said the suspect then asked the lady to park her car and come with him in his Toyata Prado “so the two of them could go to the bank together for the transfer of the funds.”
According to Mr Agblor, the suspect claimed his bank was on the Ring Road and so the lady joined him and when they were a few meters from the Paloma Hotel, “he pulled a gun and shot the lady in the abdomen.”
“The intention was to kill her and have the car. But the lady who did not die struggled with him over the weapon,” said the CID Director General.
In the cause of the struggle, he continued, the lady smashed the windscreen at the passenger side of the Toyota Prado. “She started shouting for help and threw out the weapon. But no one could come to her help since the diver was speeding,” he said.
He said the lady managed to jump out of the moving car and was rushed to the hospital for medical attention.
The lady who has since been discharged from the hospital sustained gunshot wounds in her waist and abdomen and is still recuperating.
Police investigations showed that the suspect later sold the Rav 4 for GH¢300,000 to an unsuspecting buyer in Kumasi.
The car has been retrieved and brought to the CID headquarters in Accra.
Investigations also showed that the suspect is a driver even though he claimed to be a trader and that the Toyata Prado in which he shot the victim belonged to his employer.
The suspect would be put before court this week, the police chief said.