Harry Zakour slaps customer

Harry Zakour, is in the news again for allegedly slapping a patron of his 'Bus Stop' restaurant located along Ring Way Central in Accra.

The police at Nima are investigating the circumstances under which he purportedly subjected 45-year-old Kofi Owusu to severe beatings at his popular bar and restaurant.

The investigation follows an assault case lodged at the Nima Divisional Police Station by the gentleman on Wednesday, September 10, 2014, against Harry Zakour, who is seeking to become a National Vice Chairman of the governing NDC.

Kofi Owusu narrated that in the evening of Saturday, September 6, 2014; he went to Bus Stop, which happens to be his usual spot for hanging out, to while away the time.

Whilst there, the victim said he ordered for food (chicken maringo—a mixture of chicken, carrot and rice).

After eating, he claimed he asked for his bill and when the waiter, a gentleman he identified as Bright, brought him the bill, he complained about the prices of food that continued to increase at the joint.

He indicated that a plate of the said food used to cost Ghc12.00 and then increased to Ghc14.00 but the same plate was being sold for Ghc5.00.

According to him, the waiter only smiled it off whilst waiting for the money.

Obviously worried about the continuous increases in the prices of food and services, Owusu said he made a comment in passing thus, "What kind of bad government do we have that everything keeps increasing? It's quite unfortunate that we don't have a government that can stabilise our economy that much," as he was trying to take money from his pocket to settle the bill.

"Before I could finish talking, I saw the owner of the place, Harry Zakour, walking towards me and shouting on top of his voice, 'Do you know I can ban you from this place?'"

I said, "Yea, if you have any good reason; it's your place, why not."

"I bent down to pick some­thing from my bag but before I could raise my head, I was slapped on my left cheek with a phone in his hand and I lifted up my head to say 'Harry, how could you do this?' He then gave me the second one and followed up with another one," he asserted.

This, he said, happened in the presence of senior police officer, Chief Superintendent Naa Yakubu, and other heavily-built patrons at Bus Stop, one of whom he identified as Paa Nii, who separated them as he (Owusu) said he want­ed to retaliate.

Owusu said he then paid the waiter and left the scene.

Because he was travelling to Winneba, the victim said he could not go to the police station to lodge a formal complaint and had to do so on his return on Wednesday, after which he was issued a form to seek medical attention, which showed he had a 'visible deformity'.

Asked whether he was surprised at Harry's conduct, Owusu had this to say, "I am not surprised because he has that trait and he brags that he can do any­thing; nobody can do him any­thing..."

Police investigator handling the case at the Nima Police Station, Sergeant Thomas Prempeh, con­firmed having received a com­plaint to that effect.

He told Daily Guide that the case was under investigation and that he was yet to invite Harry Zakour for questioning.

Chief Superintendent Naa Yakubu, who was said to be there at the time of the incident, declined commentary on professional grounds when reached on phone, claiming that he had heard the case was under investigation.

When contacted, Harry Zakour denied slapping Owusu, claiming, "He came and started misbehaving and insulted me.. .and he's been doing it not only today; he's been doing it for a long time. Even the police are looking for him; he has sent me some nasty messages."

Asked what he did for his accuser to insult him as he claimed, the former Hearts of Oak Chairman could not be specific except to say, "He insulted me, bastard, he insulted the President, he insulted the NDC, he said he would deport me and I said 'why are you doing that in my own restaurant?"'

Harry added, "This guy is not normal oo; he has caused a lot of problems to people. This man has been jailed before; he is a jail bird, cocaine dealer."

When he was finding it difficult to respond to the questions, he sought to cover himself in a cloak of Daily Guide is my paper; don't go and spoil my...” he paused and invited this reporter to Bus Stop to verify the supposed 2 'nasty' messages he claimed Owusu sent to him.