Political scientist at the University of Ghana, Dr Kwame Asah-Asante
A political scientist at the University of Ghana, Dr Kwame Asah-Asante, has urged caution against mob justice, emphasising that lynching a thief violates human rights and can lead to legal consequences for those involved.
Instead, he advised handing such suspects over to the police to follow due process.
He said this on the JoyNews AM Show on April 23, 2025, and monitored by GhanaWeb.
“You can catch someone right in the act, but it doesn’t give you the authority to lynch, but rather hand the person to the police and let the law take its cause,” he indicated.
This call comes after a recent incident at Aboaso Zongo in the Ashanti Region, where a JHS student was lynched to death over allegations of theft.
Dr Asah-Asante stressed the need for education to combat mob justice and promote a civil society that upholds democratic values and the rule of law.
According to him, using the law to address wrongdoing is essential in a democracy, and mob rule has no place in a civilized society.
According to a Daily Guide report, the Junior High School (JHS) Form One student was cruelly lynched by a mob after he was allegedly caught stealing a mobile phone and an amount of GH¢800 at Aboaso Zongo in the Ashanti Region.
The deceased, aged 13, was said to have stolen the mobile phone and money from a certain house at Aboaso Zongo around 3am on April 15, 2025.
According to a Mamponteng Police statement, the deceased was caught in the illegal act at that ungodly hour after which an alarm was then raised and the suspect was eventually lynched by an angry mob.
“His brother, Faisal Osman, heard of it and rushed to the scene and rescued him,” the police statement disclosed.
According to the police, Faisal Osman took his juvenile brother home to “clean him up to be taken to the hospital, but he passed on in the process,” adding that the case was reported to the police to take action.
The police together with complainants proceeded to the scene where the deceased was found lying in a supine position, covered with a white cloth.
The body was carefully inspected, and multiple marks of assault and blood were seen all over his body to suggest that the deceased was severely beaten.
“The body was conveyed and deposited at Methodist Hospital mortuary, Ankaase, for preservation and autopsy,” the police report further stated.
The report said preliminary investigation revealed that the deceased allegedly went to a house and stole a mobile phone and cash of GH¢800.00 belonging to the mother of the assembly man, and that he was caught and the said exhibits retrieved.
However, he was tied up and subjected to severe beatings by a mob who were attracted to the scene as a result of the alarm raised, the statement added.
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