Lawyer protests against police brutalities on client

Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 28 Oct. '98 Mr Egblogbe Anaglate, a Kumasi based legal practitioner, has sent a protest letter to the Ashanti regional police commander on the "inhuman treatment" meted out to Mr Francis Sepkey, his client, by the police Buffalo Unit in Kumasi on Friday, October 16.

He is demanding redress and the return of Sekpey's 7.4 million cedis he alleged was stolen from him by the police that day.

The protest letter, copied to the Inspector-General of Police, stated that Mr Sekpey, who resides at Sepe-Buokrom, a suburb of Kumasi, and licensed to sell liquor, was woken up that night by a heavy banging on his door.

The letter said the initial demand of Sekpey to know who was banging the door did not evoke any response until he insisted on knowing who was at the door when a voice outside told him that whoever it was was after one Sulley.

It said when Sekpey responded that there was no Sulley living in the house with him, they threatened to break the door and, being afraid that he was being attacked by robbers, he screamed for help, thereby waking up people in the neighbourhood.

Mr Anaglate said when his client realised that they were policemen, he opened the door, and immediately about eight "machomen" forced themselves into the room and were followed by four policemen wearing overalls, who handcuffed him and started assaulting him.

The protest letter said four of Sekpey's neighbours were also arrested and put on a vehicle, into which his items were also parked and driven to the Buffalo Unit, where he was subjected to "brutal and inhuman beatings with all kinds of gadgets". The protest letter said the police had collected from his client's room a total sum of 8.8 million cedis in two separate wrappers of 1.4 million cedis and 7.470 million cedis. The letter said after keeping Sekpey in custody, where he was subjected to more brutalities, he was asked to go home on Monday, October 19, with the explanation that they had now got the actual people they were looking for. Mr Anaglate said upon release from custody, his client collapsed and was hospitalised at the Boakye Dankwa Memorial Hospital, where he is still an out-patient. According to the letter, when Sekpey asked for his 7.470 million cedis he was "cheekily and abusively" told to ask a "jujuman' to look for the money for him. Mr Anaglate said his client is therefore demanding the return of the money he alleged was stolen from him, a "full scale open investigation" into the matter and adequate compensation paid. He wondered whether it was now an official police behaviour to seek the assistance of thugs to molest innocent civilian citizens, pointing out that as a citizen, his client was entitled to full protection from the law enforcement agencies and not to be brutalised. The protest letter said: "It is frightening that in this constitutional era, such frightening methods can be used on innocent citizens for the simple reason that somebody with an axe to grind has given some information to the police".