Hospital Administrator Murdered In Cold Blood

The Administrator of the Goaso Government Hospital, Mr Anthony Yeboah Boateng, was on Easter Sunday murdered in cold blood by a group of young men on suspicion that he was part of a criminal gang involved in alleged serial murders in the area.

The deceased's attempt to explain to his attackers that he was an innocent person rather inflamed their passions, particularly so when they spotted a corpse in his vehicle.

Mr Boateng, 38, until his death also the Presiding Member of the Asunafo North District Assembly, was said to be conveying the corpse of his mother-in-law to the Goaso Government Hospital when the youth clubbed him to death and attempted to set his body and car ablaze.

A policeman who tried to save Boateng's life was also clubbed and rushed to a nearby clinic. But that was after he had managed to rescue three other persons in the car — a Catholic nun, the wife of the deceased and a nurse — and rushed them to a local police station.

Meanwhile, Atronie where Mr Boateng was murdered is a ghost town.

All the men in the town, with the exception of the very old and sick, have fled into the bush and other unidentified locations to escape arrest by the police.

Unconfirmed reports reaching the Daily Graphic from people who had visited the town indicated that among those who had fled was the chief of the town, whose name was not immediately known.

According to the reports, some women, with their children, were also seen carrying their belongings and walking away from the town.

After allegedly crushing his head with cement blocks, the young men decided to set Mr Boateng's body ablaze when they packed a heap of combustible materials on him.

However, none of them was courageous enough to strike a match.

They were also alleged to have vandalised his car which they again attempted to set on fire.

A source close to the Sunyani Municipal Police who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in Sunyani yesterday further alleged that but for the timely intervention of the Police Constable stationed in the town, the irate young men would have also lynched the Catholic Sister, Mr Boateng's wife and the nurse.

According to the source, the young men, who had congregated in the middle of the road to celebrate Easter with a jamboree, did not heed the pleas of the deceased that he was the Administrator of the Goaso Government Hospital and Presiding Member of the Asunafo North District Assembly, nor did they consider all the documentary proof covering the corpse he was carrying from the Sunyani Hospital.

The source indicated that the young men carried out their criminal action, alleging that there had been a series of mysterious deaths in the area and, therefore, they suspected that the body the administrator was carrying was a piece of evidence of those murders.

It explained that when the deceased got to the town, he slowed down the vehicle and just about 15 metres from the Atronie Police Station the young men closely looked into the vehicle and found the corpse.

The source alleged that immediately they saw the corpse, the young men stopped the vehicle and started attacking Mr Boateng and those on board the vehicle but said the policeman who quickly went to the scene managed to whisk the others to the police station.

It indicated that when the policeman later wanted to save the hospital administrator, he was clubbed from behind and was rushed to a nearby clinic, while the people continued with their attack on the administrator by using all manner of dangerous weapons on him until he finally died.

According to the source, when the Sunyani Police got to the scene at dawn yesterday, Mr Boateng's body was under a heap of sticks, while the body of his deceased mother-in-law remained in the car.

It said a Catholic Father had sent those in the car to Goaso, while the two bodies were sent back to the Sunyani Hospital morgue.

At the time of filing this report, the Daily Graphic learnt that members of the Brong Ahafo Regional Security Council were visiting the area.

Story by Kwame Asare Boadu

& Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah