DETAILS are emerging about the motive behind the brutal murder of a 25-year-old worker of Easy Microfinance Capital Limited at Adablaka in Accra, Divine Akuinor who was mistakenly shot as an armed robber at Teshie by some police officers in Ghana Police Service at Teshie in Accra.
The deceased, Divine Akuinor together with Dennis Kojo Amponsah auto mechanic, on Saturday, January 5 2018 were shot by a police patrol team after a lady lodged a complaint about some unknown persons snatching her bag.
The 28-year-old mechanic is currently receiving treatment at the Police Hospital after sustaining severe gunshot wounds.
But Divine Akuinor, who was a former student of Sogakope Senior High School (SHS) and hails from Mepe Traditional Area in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region was purportedly died in the pool of blood after the heinous act by the police patrol team.
The incident, which occurred in a few metres of his father’s house behind the Malik Adjorman Last Stop Taxi Station at Teshie around 1:30 a.m, Today gathered has become talk of the entire Teshie community and Mepe including Liberia of where his mother, Mrs Ruth Akuinor is coming from.
Divine Akuinor, Today was reliably informed has been picked in a motorbike in a few metres his house by Dennis Kojo Amponsah when he (Amponsah) was returning from Sakumono before the horror was visited on them by police officers.
According to our findings, the police patrol team indiscriminately fire gun shots at the two suspected them to be armed robber who snatched the bag of the lady and suddenly Divine Akuinor died instantly and deposited in police morgue.
Today was told that after the incident, a resident who only gave his name as Issac approached the police patrol team and informed that them that the two victims were not the real culprits and that he met the main suspects on tje two separate motorbikes who are riding around the area.
What is very annoying, Today gathered was the facts that there was no any personal record in the Police Hospital Mortuary’s book on the body of the deceased for the family to identify at the very date that the police rushed the body to the mortuary.
After the dastardly act on Saturday evening, Today discovered that the police officers had prevented the residents in the area to have a look at the body and threatened with them gun shots.
Today understands that the policemen reportedly fired gun warning shots on several occasions to scare the well wishing nearbourhoods from getting closer to the body of the deceased.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Today yesterday over the matter, the brother of the deceased, Mr Gameli Akuinor disputed police claims being published by some media houses that Divine Akuinor was an armed robber and called on Minister of Interior and Inspector General of Police (IGP) to order for the immediate independent investigation into the matter to unreal the true.
“We want to state that we suspect fishing deal in the conduct of the police. We want to make clear that the claims by the police officers to the effect that a search conducted on the deceased together with the one who was arrested led to the retrieval of the lady’s phone are not true.
“It is lie for the police to claim that they found in the pocket of the deceased a kitchen knife and other items including five mobile phones. These are hatched statement by the police officers to cover up what they did just to create the an impression that the deceased is a hard criminal,” he stressed.
He stated that from the account of the eyewitness (name withheld), the police first searched him when they drove to the area.
“I was coming back from a nightclub at that time, so after searching me they saw a motorbike coming and they drove closer to it. After driving there, they started shooting. I wanted to go and see who they shot but they told me to go back home,” the eyewitness stated.
According to Mr Gameli, the deceased was a decent, well-mannered man and full of life, adding that his brother [Divine Akuinor] was a banker working with Easy Microfinance.
“He is someone who will never indulge in anything like that at all. Everyone is taken aback by this sudden occurrence,” he added.
The father of the deceased, Mr Albert Joe Akuinor alleged his son had told the police to follow him to his house so they can prove his innocence.
“He tells you his dad and his house is just near, he has his car in the yard, let us go so you see my parents and you still go ahead to do that damage, can they bear that pain,” he quizzed.
He called for justice to be served.
Denis Kojo Amponsah has also disputed claims he and his friend were armed robbers.
Also speaking to Journalists, he said, “we went for a program and on my way back I met my friend [Divine] at neighborhood and I decided to pick him up on the motorbike home.”
He said “while picking him up, we saw a car approaching us and then we heard a lady in a car. We didn’t hear what she said but all we heard were gunshots. The police shot at us and my friend died. I sustained gunshot wounds but my friend did not have anything on him.” “We are innocent,” he added.
The police, however, have been criticized for taking rash actions in many cases which have ended in the death of many innocent people.
This incident comes after the police is still dealing with the issues surrounding the killing of seven men at Manso Nkwanta in the Ashanti Region in 2018.
The police shot seven men at Manso Nkwanta, they [the police] claimed were engaged in a gun battle with them.
The police then supported their actions and provided evidence to prove the guilt of the deceased men. However, the government set up a committee to investigate the deaths after family and friends of the deceased men made constant calls for justice.
The investigation reports proved the seven men were innocent and not armed robbers as claimed by the police.
Meanwhile, Today gathered that the family members of Weah in Liberia of where the mother of the deceased from are preparing to enplane a nine-member delegation from Liberia to Ghana to seek justice in the gruesome murder of their child, Divine Akuinor.
The Weah family sources in Ghana confirmed to Today that the mother of Divine Akuinor Mrs. Ruth Akuinor who married to Mr Albert Joe Akuinor, a Ghanaian from Mepe Traditional Area in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region is the relative to Liberia President George Weah.
Today was reliably informed that President George Weah and his family were devastated when the news of the murder of their beloved so reached them in Liberia and vowed that they would not let this heartbreaking matter die off hand in Ghana.
Today learnt that the deceased (Divine Akuinor) and his father together with mother who is Liberian were brought to Ghana as refugees during the recent war in Liberia.
STORY: FREEMAN KORYEKPOR AWLESU