FOUR SHOT •At Firing Squad

WHOEVER thought 'Firing Squad' was last seen under former President JJ Rawlings' AFRC/PNDC regimes when heads of state and army generals were shot at the Teshie Range, should be revising their notes especially in this democratic era.

A horrendous scene was enacted by a businessman when he lined up four suspected thieves and allegedly shot at them one by one at Boye, a village near Abokobi in the Ga East district last Tuesday.

The businessman, Daniel Dankwa, 50, who committed the atrocious act with three others, then 'packed' the victims, who fortunately were still alive, into a waiting car and sent them to the Adenta Police Station.

He was promptly arrested by the Police while the victims, Kojo Tawiah, Kwabena Yeboah, Daniel Acheampong and Seth Avisah were rushed to the Police Hospital in Accra where Kojo Tawiah and Seth Avisah were treated and discharged.

Kwabena Yeboah and Daniel Acheampong were however less fortunate and have been referred to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for emergency attention.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE at Madina near Accra, the Madina Divisional Crime Officer, DSP Baffour Appenteng-Nyamekye said on August 21, 2007, the four victims who were sent by their 'boss' to collect some cement blocks at Boye mistakenly picked the wrong blocks belonging to the suspect.

He said while the victims were packing the blocks into their KIA Truck, a report was made to Mr. Dankwa that four men were allegedly stealing his cement blocks.

He was said to have quickly organised three other men, only identified as Tetteh, Osei and Larkai (who are at large) and armed with a pistol with 22 rounds of ammunition, they stormed the site.

DSP Appenteng-Nyamekye said the suspect gave a warning shot and the victims, who had already packed 161 cement blocks into their KIA truck, stopped to listen to the man with the gun.

He then 'arrested' them for allegedly stealing his cement blocks, asked them to line up in single file mode and did the 'unthinkable'.

In a firing squad style, Dankwa pumped bullets into their mid-ribs and limbs, packed their bodies dripping with blood into a vehicle and drove to the Adenta Police Station.

DSP Appenteng-Nyamekye said Mr. Dankwa has been remanded into police custody to assist in investigations.

He appealed to the public not to 'execute' or mete out instant justice to suspects when arrested since they could be innocent.

Prosper Akabutu, the owner of Obolo Cement Factory at Ashongman who sent the victims on that errand, told DAILY GUIDE that he had sold GH¢600 (¢6 million) worth of cement blocks to a customer who paid him a deposit of ¢3 million and requested that the blocks should be sent to his (customer's) site.

After three months, according to Mr. Akabutu, the customer never came back to pay the balance and to collect the remainder of his blocks.

He said the area was prone to thievery and to safeguard the blocks, he asked his 'boys' to go back to the site and bring those cement blocks they sent earlier.

Mr. Akabutu alleged that since the place was sparsely inhabited, the victims could not identify the place they had sent the blocks and went to collect the 'wrong' ones.

He denied any mischief and said he had been in the cement block moulding business for a long time and had his credibility to protect.

At the time of filing this story, the two wounded men who were discharged were said to be seeking traditional medical treatment at the Mampong Centre for Medical Research into Plant Medicine at Mampong in the Eastern Region.

Detective Sergeant Peter Nyame of the Adenta Police is handling the case.