Killers Strike

Bright Appiah aka Quaicoo

A taxi driver who plies the Kasoa-Buduburam route, Bright Appiah popularly called Quaicoo, escaped from the hands of two men whose attempt at killing him failed to materialize but ended up in the cab somersaulting and rendering its occupants unconsciousness.

Upon regaining consciousness afterwards, the suspected killers fled the accident scene, vanishing into thin air.

The two men had hired the cabbie on dropping terms for a trip from Kasoa to Winneba and ended up trying to kill the driver, resulting in a struggle which got the taxi somersaulted with occupants escaping death by a whisker.

According to Francis Mark Appiah, father of the cab driver, four days ago, the two men hired his son's taxi for the trip, but unknown to his son, they had their own plans.

When they got to Gyaadze, a village near Winneba, the passengers got down to ostensibly meet somebody. Not long afterwards, they returned and told the driver that the man they had come to see was not available at the time.

They therefore asked the driver to drive back to Kasoa and as he drove along, he overheard one of the two men negotiating a deal with someone on the phone.

Upon hearing the mention of ¢600m, he became alarmed, suspecting that the two men planned selling him to someone.

He abruptly felt a duster being used to forcefully blindfold him even as he drove the vehicle near a village called Essuekyir.

A struggle ensued, during which he lost control of the vehicle which somersaulted before coming to a halt.

The occupants of the cab became unconscious but the driver being the first to regain consciousness, managed to take to his heels and take cover near a river.

When day broke, he went to a nearby village to seek assistance and proceeded to the Winneba Police Station to report his ordeal, by which time the suspects had also regained consciousness and fled the accident scene. Traces of blood were discovered in the vehicle.

The Winneba Police have already commenced investigations into the case, DAILY GUIDE has learnt.

The vehicle is said to have been moved to the Winneba Police Station.

Accra and some parts of the country have been hit by a wave of killings suspected to be linked to ritualistic manouvres.

In Accra alone, some five or so of such deaths were recorded in the past five weeks. Although the Police have subtly disagreed that some organs of the murder victims were severed and taken away, media reports seem to deflate that position.

At Abossey Okai a few weeks ago, a cocoa drink seller was found dead in a pool of blood, with his tongue allegedly removed.

A woman was also later found dead and her private parts completely scooped out but the Police reported afterwards that the deceased was a lunatic who had been run over by a number of vehicles.

The Police reports which seek to post a picture of calm have not succeeded in keeping the fear of most Ghanaians at bay.

While Tanzanian authorities are battling with the ritual killing of albinos, the choice of jujumen is not known, as the murders and removal of body parts cuts across sexual lines.

By A.R. Gomda