General News of Monday, 2 March 2015
Source: The Chronicle
Residents of Asennua, a community in the Kwabre East District of the Ashanti Region are yet to come to terms with the circumstances under which a 49-year-old man was callously murdered by a suspected group of military personnel and a police officer at his private residence on Thursday night.
Kwaku Oppong, popularly known as Noah or Ablaze, was chased into his house by four suspected soldiers and a police officer in a military patrol vehicle, where he was beaten severely before being shot to death.
The military officer additionally subjected the old mother of the deceased and his nephew, known only as Baafi, to several beatings, leading to their admission at the Ankaase Government Hospital, where they are currently receiving treatment.
They were said to have ransacked every part of the house when they could not locate the deceased, before they found him wrapped under a pile of mattresses and subsequently dragged him outside, beat him several times before pumping bullets into his head.
According to an eyewitness, the assailants, who were in full military and police attire, allegedly chased Oppong into his house after he was reported to have disobeyed an order by the security personnel, beckoning him to stop whilst driving on his way home.
The report indicated that on Thursday night, Oppong, who was a spare parts dealer at Suame Magazine, had closed from work and was on his way home when he decided to give three ladies he knew in his area, a lift.
One of the ladies told a Broadcast Journalist, Mmeranteehene Wereko-Brobbey on Angel FM, during a live interview that, when they got to a police checkpoint located between Meduma and Asennua, officers at the point signalled the deceased to stop, but he refused.
According to her, when they proceeded a few distance, Oppong stopped the vehicle and dropped two of the ladies who had reached their destination, but upon realizing that the security personnel were chasing him, he asked the other lady to remain seated in the car whilst he tried to run away from the fully armed officers.
The lady said upon sensing danger, she decided to shout for help, suspecting that Oppong was trying to harm her, but the deceased did not stop until they got to his residence where he quickly parked the car and went to hide in his room.
She continued that, no sooner had the deceased parked the car, than the angry security officers arrived accosted her, threatening to kill her if she does not reveal the whereabouts of the late Oppong.
The lady said she pointed to his house and when the four suspected soldiers and the police officer got there, they found the mother and nephew of the deceased and began to question them, threatening to deal with them if they did not reveal the hideout of Oppong.
According to information, the old mother tried to inquire the reason why they were chasing her son, the suspected security personnel did not mind her and rather subjected her to beatings, during which she eventually lost consciousness.
After ransacking the house and could not trace the deceased, one of the officers held his nephew, Baafi, at gunpoint and threatened to shoot him if he did not show them the hideout of his uncle.
An intimidated Baafi then screamed at his uncle to come out. After searching for some few minutes, they found Oppong hiding under a pile of mattresses in a room and pulled him out.
They initially decided to handcuff him, but later realized that one of his hands had been amputated as a result of an accident that he encountered several years ago, but that did not stop them from dragging him outside the house, where they shot him and sped off in the military vehicle.
Meanwhile, the Police in Mamponteng, the Kwabre East district capital, say they are still searching for the identity of the officers who carried out that dastardly attack on the victim and his family.