'Killer' Was In My House- Minister

Eric Opoku

Deputy Minister for the Brong Ahafo Region and one-time MP for the Asunafo South constituency, , has admitted that a murder suspect, Kwasi Adu, was indeed grabbed in his house by the police on Friday night.

The suspected Sankore killer was arrested by the police upon a tip-off that he had made the deputy minister's Sakumono flat his haven since he ran away from justice after he allegedly shot and killed an evangelist, Kwame Nyame.

Several discrepancies have contributed to the confused state of the story, especially with the decision by the Police not to comment further on the subject and the deputy minister's version spotting inconsistencies.

Even though had earlier denied that he knew the suspected murderer, yesterday he told a number of radio stations that Kwasi Adu was known to him.

Investigations by DAILY GUIDE suggested that Kwasi Adu, 22, told the Police in a statement following his arrest that he was a mason and a resident of Alhaji Tabora, a suburb of Accra.

He said he went to the Deputy Minister's Sakumono residence to pay him a visit having heard on phone that the man was in town on Friday at about 4.00pm.

According to the Sakumono Police Station Crime Officer, ASP Michael Addae, the suspect was spotted in the deputy minister's sitting room but upon sighting the Police, he dashed to the bathroom where he was nabbed at about 9.15pm.

The officer added that the suspect did not live in the deputy minister's house and admitted that he was part of the group that caused commotion in Sankore, but denied shooting the deceased.

He however admitted the report of a gunshot from a different location and the Police said no offensive weapons were found on the suspect on the day he was picked up.

Advising that the arrest should not be politicized, the officer said the suspect was being held for the fact that he allegedly killed someone.

The deputy minister on the other hand claimed foul play in the arrest of the suspect.

According to him, the incident was an orchestration of his detractors to implicate and demonize him.

He told Joy FM yesterday that he thought that the suspect was hoodwinked into going to his house, so he could be arrested and have him linked to the criminality.

While earlier reports had it that at the time the suspect got to the Sakumono house the deputy minister was not at home, the man himself stated that he was outside the house with his wife when Kwasi Adu arrived, accompanied by a brother.

As soon as the suspect sat down to explain that he had got a call claiming that the minister sought to see him, there was a knock on the door.

Continuing, he said, “Kwasi Adu himself walked to the door and then saw a boy from Sankore and the driver of the current MP for Asunafo South, Hon George Boakye, and some policemen and they said they wanted to arrest Kwasi Adu. So my driver called me and said I should talk to the policemen to see what could be done.”

The deputy minister said the police came with a torchlight and a camera which he found unusual.

He therefore asked why an arresting squad would carry a camera.

He said he never said he did not know the suspect, adding that he knew him as an NDC member who was part of his campaign during the 2008 elections.

disclosed that he had been notified that the suspect was part of the conflict that rocked Sankore and that he had not seen him since then.

He said the suspect's coming to his house and the arrival of the police to effect his arrest, could not have been coincidental.

In yet another version of the circumstances leading to the arrest of the suspect which we earlier reported, when the police arrived in the house, the deputy minister's bodyguard and driver would not allow the arrest to be undertaken.

There was a blackout which was attributed to an exhaustion of an ECG prepaid credit by the minister's household, hence the use of torchlight by the police team.

The suspect, according to earlier reports, hurriedly moved away from the hall where he was seated, taking cover under a bed. This has however been corrected by the police who said they flushed him from a bath house, thus giving credence to the fact that the suspect really took cover.

Meanwhile, DAILY GUIDE has gathered that the suspect has arrived safely into the waiting hands of the Brong Ahafo Regional Police Command who had been hunting him to no avail.

The suspect, in the company of others, allegedly attacked NPP sympathizers in Sankore in July and fatally shot a certain Kwame Nyame, an evangelist of the Deeper Life Christian Ministry.

Kwasi Adu who fled the town was traced to the residence of the deputy minister.

By A.R. Gomda & Nathaniel Y. Yankson