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10.02.2016 Politics

Shocker! JB Danquah Killed

By Daily Guide
Mourners at the residence of JB Danquah. INSET Joseph Boakye Danquah AduMourners at the residence of JB Danquah. (INSET) Joseph Boakye Danquah Adu
10.02.2016 LISTEN

Five persons have been picked up by the police for questioning following the gruesome murder of the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North in the Eastern Region, Joseph Boakye Danquah Adu, at his Shiashie residence in Accra yesterday.

The MP was allegedly stabbed to death while he was asleep around 1:25 am at his residence where he lived with his wife and two children.

Those arrested, according to reports, included three men and two women. While one of the arrested persons, Aplaku, is a private security man who has been guarding the house for the past ten years, the others are residents of the area.

The assailant, who had his footprints on the walls of the house, allegedly struggled with the lawmaker before he finally killed him.

Police reports indicated that the MP received multiple stabs in the stomach and was declared dead on arrival at the Police Hospital.

His private security man, the reports indicated, allegedly told the police that he did not hear the struggle that led to his master's death.

The murder, which sent shockwaves across the country, has received various interpretations, with some people calling it contract killing.

Police Version
Briefing journalists at the regional headquarters, the Accra Regional Police Spokeswoman, ASP Effia Tenge, said the police received a distress call at about 1:45 am yesterday from some members of the household of the MP that he had been attacked.

A team of policemen were immediately dispatched to the scene where they found the MP lying in a pool of blood in his bedroom.

She said he was immediately rushed to the hospital for medical care but doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

His body has since been deposited at the Police Hospital for autopsy.

ASP Tenge disclosed that preliminary investigations revealed that the MP received multiple stabs from the unknown attacker, but they were yet to establish the sort of implement used.

Deceased's Residence
When DAILY GUIDE visited the house of the late MP opposite Ange Hills Hotel at East Legon in Accra, there were scores of mourners, including political associates such as the NPP vice presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and the Acting National Chairman, Freddie Blay.

The paper learnt that the MP's wife and their children had been taken away from the house around 6am to an unknown location.

A man who claimed to be a personal assistant to the late JB, as he was fondly called, said his boss attended a meeting and returned home around 12:30 am on Tuesday.

“At that time his wife, Madam Ivy Heward Mills, was sleeping in a separate room together with the children and so Hon JB, after having his bath, also went to sleep,” he narrated.

The assailant, according to reports, passed through the back of the house and using a ladder which was lying on the compound, climbed to the bedroom which has no burglary-proof and attacked the lawmaker.

There were several footprints including bloodstains on the wall leading to the bedroom as well as the back wall of the building when the paper visited the area. The bloodstains trailed the assailant who was believed to have jumped into the next house.

Even though police reports indicated that no items were stolen, reports gathered at the house indicated that the MP's mobile phones were taken away by the assailant.

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Security Beefed Up
There were several police personnel in the house when DAILY GUIDE visited the place.

Accra Regional Police Commander COP Dr George Akuffu Dampare and others, including crime scene investigators, were sighted picking pieces of telltale items.

COP Rose Bio Atinga, Director General in-charge of Research and Planning, was also at the house.

NPP Supporters
The Acting Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Freddie Blay, also led a team of party stalwarts to the house for first-hand information about the incident.

Mr Blay, in a mournful mood, described JB's death as shocking, but was hopeful that the police would do a good job to bring the perpetrator(s) of the crime to book.

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia was also at the residence of the late MP together with Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Dan Botwe, the MP for Okere, Papa Owusu Ankomah, MP for Sekondi and others.

Residents' Claims
Some residents in the area told DAILY GUIDE that they heard the struggle between the MP and his attacker, which forced them out of their homes, only to discover later that he had been killed.

The residents alleged that two policemen who visited the scene were in front of the house when the assassin escaped by scaling the back wall.

“The policemen said they were afraid because they were not sure whether the assassin was armed with a gun as the suspect ran out of the house,” one of the residents said.

Previous Attacks
Three persons, including the former girlfriend of the MP, were arrested and tried for robbery and causing harm to the deceased in 2010.

In that attack, the late JB sustained a deep cut on his arm in a struggle which occurred in the bedroom of the girlfriend.

The three were later fined by a court of law for causing harm after the charge of robbery was dropped against them.

Political Career
The late JB Danquah Adu was the Abuakwa North MP from 2000 until 2008 when he lost the seat to the NPP's Prof Samuel Amoako. But he returned in 2012 and won the seat against NDC's Victor Smith, then Eastern Regional Minister.

During President Kufuor's administration, JB was the Deputy Minister for Women and Children's Affairs.

He was a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Special Budget Committee chaired by the Majority Leader.

The Committee considers the budget of Parliament and other constitutionally independent bodies, including the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), National Media Commission (NMC), the Electoral Commission (EC) and the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE).

By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey
( [email protected] )

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