Army deploys troops to Denkyira-Obuasi over lynching of Captain

Scores of armed military personnel have been deployed to Denkyira-Obuasi as they mount a search for residents said to have lynched a military Captain.

Thirty-Five (35) Men and Two Officers have been dispatched to the community where the incident happened, Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul told Kojo Yankson on Joy FM's Super Morning Show, Tuesday.

Capt Maxwell Mahama of the 5 Battalion of Infantry is said to have been lynched while he was on his early morning jogging Monday morning. He was allegedly stoned and burnt by the youth of the area who mistook him for an armed robber.

A statement from the Ghana Armed Forces says “a high-powered fact-finding team led by the Chief of Army Staff [Major General Obed Akwa] is proceeding to the scene of the incident to ascertain the facts of the case.”

There were initial reports that the troops deployed to the area may brutalise the residents in retaliation for the attack, however, the Spokesperson for the Ghana Armed Forces, Col. Aggrey Quarshie, has told Joy News that will not happen.

"We are not going to expect that they will go and be attacking the community, no...they are going there to protect the Chief of Army Staff," he said.

"We will leave the security agencies that are responsible for investigating such things to do that and we hope that all the culprits will be picked up and brought to book. So we expect the community members to help us arrest all the culprits," he adds.

However, Joy News' Correspondent Ohemeng Tawiah reports Tuesday that residents are hiding in their rooms for fear of being picked up by the military.

He said the troops are going from door-to-door, waking up residents and seeking to get information that will bring the perpetrators to book.

File photo
Police Account
Meanwhile, Central Region Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Irene Oppong, has told Joy News Central Region Correspondent, Richard Kwadwo Nyarko that at about 10.00 a.m. on Monday, May 29, Assemblyman for Diaso, the area where the incident occurred, one William Baah, reported at the police station that “at about 09:30am on the same day he [Mr Baah] received distress call from one of the foodstuff sellers along the Denkyira Obuasi highway that she has seen a man with a pistol hidden at his back and suspects him to be an armed robber. “

The Police PRO further explained that Mr Baah and two of his colleagues headed in the direction of where the suspected robber was seen jogging.

“According to the complainant [Mr Baah] when approached, the suspect [Capt Mahama] pulled a pistol at him and he managed to escape leaving the two colleagues behind.

"Police quickly proceeded to the scene only to find the suspect lynched by unknown mob. He had multiple deep cut wounds on the head and parts of the body partially burnt. Body photographed and deposited at Dunkwa- on -Offin government hospital morgue," ASP Irene Oppong narrates.