Amnesty International, others demand justice for stripped driver

Incessant pressure is mounting on the Ghana Police Service to fast-track investigations into a case where one of its men allegedly stripped a taxi driver naked for jumping red light at Anyaa in Accra.

The victim, Kwabena Danso, was publicly assaulted by his accuser Gabriel Tabiri, who is stationed at the Anyaa Police Station.

Social media has been awash with pictures of the incident, which has sparked public outrage. Human Rights Manager at the Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC) Philomena Ahiable, and Human Rights and Education Officer at Amnesty International Isaac Nyanteh stormed the studios of Starr FM Thursday to offer assistance to the victim.

“We must change our way of doing things as a country,” Nyanteh told Morning Starr host Francis Abban. “This is a very unfortunate situation and we are interested and we’ll follow the case to the latter.”

He added: “There is a need to get him a counsellor and a psychologist to prepare his mind. It is very important.”

HRAC’s Ahiable concurred with Nyanteh that Danso needs psychological support since his human rights have been trampled upon.

“This is a violation of his human rights. We are interested and we want to follow up on this case to get justice for Kwabena. We also want to help him with counselling and provide him with a clinical psychologist. He being naked kills his spirit and we’ll follow it through and through and will make sure justice is served,” Ahiable served notice.

Danso told Morning Starr host Francis Abban that he is traumatized and has not been able to communicate with his wife who “feels so embarrassed.”

“I can’t eat,” the visibly disturbed taxi driver, who broke down in the studios of Starr FM while narrating the ordeal he went through, said.

He fears the ongoing police investigations into the matter will not yield fruitful result, based on how the service has handled such issues in the past.

However, the Director General of the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards (PIPS) directorate, DCOP Simon Afeku, said they are treating the case with a matter of urgency.

“Looking at the nature of the report, we have attached all the necessary urgency that is supposed to be attached for investigations to be carried out,” DCOP Afeku told Starr News’ Atiewin Mbila-Lawson. “We have sent out letters of invitations… and we’ll deal expeditiously with investigations to come out with the truth.”