Moves to sweep murder case under carpet

The families of two soldiers involved in the alleged brutalization of a 21-year-old Evans Kusi, which resulted in his death are said to be mak¬ing frantic efforts to get the case settled out of court.

According to Public Agenda, the father of Michael Okpata who also happens to be a soldier and the mother of Atsu Bodza called on the parents of the late Evans Kusi at their Tantra Hill residence on the 22nd April to apologize for the unfortunate behavior of their children.

They also told the family that a police officer at the Accra Regional command had advised them to do everything within their powers to get the case settled out of court. The entourage therefore pleaded with the father of the deceased to cooperate with them and prevent the case from being heard in court.

The Public Agenda said it learned from family source that Mr. Emmanuel Kusi, just two weeks after burying his son was shocked at the overtures of the families of the errant soldiers and refused to be party to the deal. He reportedly told them in their faces to allow justice to take its course.

Evans Kusi was buried on the 1 SI, April this year in his village in the Volta Region, and one month after his burial the police are yet to arraign the suspects before a court of competent jurisdiction. Rather, it was a police who advised the parents of the soldiers to ensure the case is settled out of court.

Public Agenda first broke the story in its March 30th edition headlined 'Three Soldiers Pound Man to Death." Subsequent investigations revealed that the police had earlier released two of the soldiers, Michael Okpata and Atsu Bodza after Daniel Ankomah had confessed that he was the one who beat the young man to death.

The three soldiers, all of the Ghana Armed Forces on the 4th of March this year attended the graduation party of a hairdresser at a hotel called Florenza at Alhaji a suburb of Accra.

An eyewitness who disclosed the manner in which the soldiers brutalized the youngman to death told this paper that on that fateful day, Evans in the company of his friends had also gone to the venue to join in the fun.

When they got there the three soldiers who were then manning the gate refused them entry to the hotel and attempts by the deceased to demand explanation from them did not go down well with the soldiers.

Evans demanded an explanation why the soldiers refused them entry. With no answers coming from the soldiers, he guessed that the soldiers were using their military uniform to intimidate them. They pounced on him and subjected him to a severe pounding.

The deceased was rushed to the Rahma Home Clinic in the vicinity but considering the seriousness of his condition the medical attendant referred them to the 37 Military Hospital.

At the 37 Military Hospital they were turned away because there was no bed to accommodate the dying youngman.

They therefore headed for the Nyaho Medical Clinic where a nurse broke the sad news that the youngman was already dead and asked them to send the dead body back to the 37 Military Hos¬pital.

The paper said a postmortem report indicated that he died as a result of the pain the soldiers inflicted on him.

Initial attempts by the police to arrest these soldiers proved futile since they went into hiding after committing the gruesome act.

Public Agenda gathered that through the frantic efforts of the Tesano Police the three soldiers were arrested and handed over to the Greater Accra Regional Police command for further action.

The father of the deceased blamed the police for drag¬ging their feet on the case while the paper says a source at the regional police office has informed it of the docket being sent to the Attorney-General's Office for advice and further action.