Police brief families on investigations into death of riot victim, robbery suspect at Nkoranza

 A police del­egation on last Friday met with the families of Victor Owusu, who died in a rioting incident in Nkoranza and a deceased robbery suspect, Albert Donkor, to update them on Police investigations into the two inci­dents that occurred on April 25, 2022 that led to the death of the two persons.

A police source told the Gha­naian Times that the delegation first met the family of ALBERT DONKOR and briefed them on investigations conducted into the incident that occurred at 12:35am on April 25, 2022, at Nkoranza, leading to the death of Donkor.

The source recalled that the Police received a distress call from a passenger on board a Pragia who said some armed men had blocked the Nkoranza-Jema, highway and were robbing road users of their belongings.

The Nkoranza District patrol team, on board Service Vehicle No GP 226, was dispatched to the robbery scene and as soon as they saw the team, the robbers opened fire at the police, who also re­turned fire. During exchange of fire, the Police Service vehicle at the site was damaged.

The source said the robbers then fled the scene into a nearby bush and were pursued by the Police team, which conducted a search in the bush and found BB cartridges and some mobile phones that were retrieved as exhibits in the investigation.

Police identified the victims at the robbery scene and escorted them to the police station to assist police in the investigation.

At the police station, one of the robbery victims gave a vivid description of the robbers who attacked them. He described the attire worn by one of the robbers as a grey-like hoodie.

Police subsequently mounted Intelligence operations, and Police subsequently arrested Albert Donkor the deceased, in his house, and a grey-like hoodie was retrieved from his room.

The deceased, during interro­gation also admitted that he had taken part in the robbery and mentioned some of his accom­plices.

The deceased led the Police to the hideout of his accomplices, but they came under fire as they approached. The Police returned fire and after the exchange, Albert Donkor was found with gunshot wounds. He was rushed to a hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

A team of Investigators from Accra including a Crime Scene Management team was dispatched to Nkoranza to assist the local Police to investigate the incident.

As part of the investigation, it became necessary to conduct an autopsy on the body of deceased Albert Donkor. The Police offered the family the option of using an independent pathologist or a police pathologist and the family opted for an independent patholo­gist to conduct the autopsy.

The body of the deceased was therefore conveyed to the Kor­le-Bu Teaching Hospital mortuary for preservation and autopsy. The autopsy was conducted on August 8, 2022 by the independent pathol­ogist at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

Police are still awaiting the au­topsy report from the independent pathologist.

While awaiting the report of the autopsy, the case docket was forwarded to the AG’s office for study and advice in line with investigation and prosecution procedures.

Key findings of the Police investigations into the death of Albert Donkor confirmed that the deceased, Albert Donkor was one of the robbers, who mounted the road block and carried out the robbery on April 25, 2022.

On the subsequent death of Victor Kwadwo Owusu, the Police told the family that when the news of the death of Albert Donkor was announced to the family, some youth of Nkoranza, numbering about 400, armed with stones, clubs and other offensive implements, converged on the road in front of the District Police Headquarters Nkoranza on May 17 last year and started burning lorry tyres and wood on the road and also blocked movement of traffic and pedestrians.

The mob forcibly entered the charge office, broke into the cells and freed all the suspects in custo­dy. They also destroyed property including vehicles.

A police reinforcement team responded to the incident and successfully restored law, order and security.

On the same day, eight of the irate mob, namely Stephen Baffoe, Augustine Duodu, Eric Appiah, Iddrisu Ishmael, Rockson Do­nyina, Philemon Yaw, Raymond Agyei and Victor Kwadwo Owusu who sustained injuries were sent to St. Theresa’s Hospital, Nkoranza for treatment.

Unfortunately, one of the eight suspects, Victor Kwadwo Owusu was pronounced dead at the hos­pital. The body of the deceased was deposited at the same hospital morgue for autopsy.

Police therefore, initiated investigations and necessary arrangements were made with his family for the post-mortem to be conducted.

The family were given the op­tion to either get an independent pathologist to conduct the autopsy or for the autopsy to be conducted by the police and they agreed for the police to conduct the autopsy.

On June 6, 2022, the autop­sy was conducted by a Police pathologist in the presence of the father of the deceased, Mr James Boamah and the investigator. The pathologist gave the verbal cause of death as severe head injury, fall and Brain Tumor. The pathologist again informed the family of the option to get a second opinion on the matter if they so wished

On June 23, 2022, a copy of the written post mortem report together with a copy of the cor­oner’s form were handed over to the deceased family.

The key finding of the inves­tigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Victor Owusu is that he died as a result of a head injury, fall and brain tumor and not as a result of a gunshot.