The Police has revealed that the murder of Captain Maxwell Mahama, was occasioned by a snail seller’s false alarm that he was an armed robber after she spotted a sidearm on him.
Captain Maxwell Mahama had stopped to buy snails from her, paid for it and told her he would return for the snails on his way back from a jogging routine.
The woman, upon seeing the sidearm [a pistol] while Captain Mahama was taking out money to pay her, secretly called the assemblyman for the area, Denkyira-Obuasi, and informed him she had seen an armed robber.
The Assemblyman then mobilized some youth who without verifying the identity of Capt. Mahama, carried out the gruesome attack and murdered him.
The Police made this known at a press conference in Accra to present findings from its general criminal investigations into the murder of the military man.
IGP, David Asante-Apeatu, who also addressed the press conference, said the police is instituting measures to stop the menace of mob action.
“The police service which I head, has already started putting measures in place to eradicate these acts of impunity… These measures include stern enforcement of the law, liaising with other relevant institutions to embark on massive public education, strengthening criminal investigations, and taking community policing to a higher level,” he said.
Below is the Police’s account of what happened.
ADDRESS BY THE DIRECTOR – GENERAL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT. DCOP/MR. BRIGHT ODURO ON PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN MAXWELL MAHAMA
CAPTAIN MAXWELL MAHAMA now deceased was the Commander of a Military Detachment stationed at Diaso in the Upper Denkyira District of the Central Region to check Galamsey activities. The Detachment is based at the outskirts of Diaso.
On Monday May 29, 2017 at about 8:00 am, the deceased left the Detachment Base for a 20km walk/jogging. He was in civilian clothing but carried his sidearm. He jogged on the main asphalted Diaso-Dominase-Ayanfuri motor road. He came through Agona Port Police Barrier. Jameso Nkwanta and Dankwakrom villages heading towards Dominase.
It has been established that at about 8:55am, the deceased in a whatsapp chat with a friend stated that, he was embarking on a 20km walk and that he started at 8.00am so he would get in touch later. It is estimated that, between this time and 9:25 am he had walked about 10km to a place at the outskirts of Denkyira-Obuasi village where a number of women were selling food items by the road. The deceased stopped to interact with the women and even bought some snails which he left with the women to pick up on his return from the walk.
While the deceased was taking out money from his pocket to pay for the snail, the woman from whom the deceased bought the snail and a few others saw the deceased’s sidearm tucked to his waist. Soon after he left the women, one of them (name withheld) telephoned the Assemblyman of Denkyira-Obuasi, William Baah to report what they had seen.
Without verifying the information, the Assemblyman mobilized the townsfolk to prepare to attack an armed robber who had been sighted by the women who sell at the outskirt of the town. The Assemblyman called a motor rider who is popularly known in the town as “Komoko” and together with one other man called Kwasi Buah. a vulcanizer proceeded to confront the deceased.
The Assemblyman met the deceased near the Denkyira-Obuasi cemetery, which is about one-and- half kilometers away from the food stuff sellers and about the same distance from the place where the body of the deceased was found.
As soon as the Assemblyman and his two-man team spotted the deceased with a side arm, they accosted him without giving him the opportunity to identify himself.
By this time message had spread that an armed robber had been sighted and so other people had come around wielding all forms of implements and started attacking the deceased.
While the deceased was being attacked, he made efforts to explain his identity, while at the same time attempting to flee from his attackers.
Police Investigations have also established the following:
The deceased jumped unto different motor bikes in an attempt to escape from the attack but to no avail.
He also attempted to escape by jumping unto a timber truck (details withheld) by entering through the passenger side but the attackers fired and shattered the windscreen causing him to fall off.
There were sporadic shooting from the attackers.
The attackers used implements including clubs, cement blocks and machetes.
He was finally killed at about 10:00am
These findings indicate that the deceased left his base at about 8am of Monday May 29. 2017 and was killed at about 10am of the same day.
Police actions taken so far include the arrest of 16 suspects. 7 out of whom have been remanded by the Court to police custody and the rest to be presented in Court on Monday June 5, 2017 together with any suspects that may be arrested in the course of the weekend.
The seven who have been remanded are:
The other arrested persons are as stated below. Some were attempting to escape arrest to other places and were intercepted, while others were arrested from other places across the country, including as far as Sunyani.
We have collected a number of evidence which have either been processed or are being processed according to due process.
In conclusion our investigations are focused on identifying all persons whose actions caused the death of the deceased. To find out what specific actions were taken by each individual and how the actions are linked to the killing as well as the intent of the actions.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
