Driver Tortured to death in Kumasi

Collins Okyere, also known as Nana Kwame Sarpong, 35, died on Saturday after he was allegedly and repeatedly tortured by officers of the Striking Force Unit.

The 35-year-old trotro driver from Anomanye, Suame in Kumasi was arrested last Wednesday on suspicion of robbery when the police apprehended a stolen taxi he was a passenger in.

According to the murdered man's mother, Theresa Manu, her son was beaten to confess even though the driver of the stolen vehicle had told the police that Nana Kwame was innocent and should therefore be set free.

But the police are refuting Madam Manu's story. According to the Deputy Public Affairs Officer, Ashanti Region, Mohammed Tanko, the deceased was part of a car-jacking gang that was arrested by the Striking Force. He told The Statesman that Nana Kwame was identified with a gang suspected to have stolen several vehicles in Kumasi. The police, he said, have "witnesses to testify to their crime."

Narrating her story to the STATESMAN newspaper, the grieving mother of the deceased said her son was at home with her at Suame last Wednesday morning when a colleague driver of his late son drove to the house in a taxi, accompanied by his girlfriend. His son joined them to the Suame Magazine, apparently to undertake repair work on the vehicle.

She said on reaching the Suame Magazine, the taxi was surrounded by armed officers from the Striking Force Unit. She said they were arrested on charges of the vehicle being a stolen one and taken to the police station where they were held for questioning.

Madam Manu said she was informed by someone about her son's arrest so she rushed to the police station where she saw her son and the others behind bars. According to the mother, the driver confessed to the police but added that her son, Nana Kwame, knew nothing about it, pleading with the police for his release.

Madam Manu told the paper of the numerous times her son was allegedly tortured.

"I was outside when other people who had come to the police station to visit their relatives screamed that my son had collapsed and was dying. When I went closer to the counter I saw him lying there with the police looking on unconcerned. They rather complained that he was epileptic; something I know not to be true! I went straight to my son and fed him with water to revive him," she narrated.

Within seconds of reviving her son, one police officer allegedly started hitting him again demanding a confession.

On the third day, she alleged her son was again beaten mercilessly for pouring water on the floor of the station.

Madam Manu said the following day she sent her children to go and give their brother food only for them to rush back that their brother was nowhere to be found as no one was willing to tell them his whereabouts.

“It later transpired that the body had been deposited at the mortuary, where the STATESMAN correspondent and colleagues managed to sneak in and take snaps of the body. The police were later on confronted with the gruesome photographs, which showed how Nana Kwame was beaten to pulp.”

While maintaining there was evidence implicating the deceased in crime, Mr Tanko conceded that law enforcement agents cannot subject suspects in their custody to torture. The police administration in the Ashanti Region has put up a team to investigate the death of Nana Kwame and also look into the deceased family's allegation of police brutalities.

"The police as an institution is against and does not endorse or encourage torture or any form of brutalities," he said. He assured the public that any officer found to be liable would be dealt with according to the law of the land.

The Statesman said results of an autopsy report from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital was expected to be announced by noon of Tuesday.