Armed Robbers kill "visiting" medical officer

A London-based Ghanaian plastic surgeon, Dr John Quartey, was on Thursday night shot dead at North Kaneshie in Accra by five armed robbers in their attempt to rob him of his E-Class Benz Saloon car and money.

Dr Quartey, aged 40, said to be a consultant to the Korle-Bu Teaching and 37 Military Hospitals, met his death a day after his arrival in the country in the company of a friend at Liquart, North Kaneshie. The Friends was however not hurt.

The robbers, aged between 14 and 16 years, succeeded in robbing him of an unspecified amount of money but failed to take away the vehicle as they sensed danger of being arrested by residents in the area.

The Ghanaian Times investigations indicated that the robbers shot Dr Quartey, when he refused to surrender the keys to the vehicle. Residents in the area said they heard a gun-shot around 11.00pm on that day followed by a lady’s wailing for help.

According to them, when they got to the scene, they found Dr Quartey unconscious in a pool of blood near his vehicle and rushed him to a nearby Holy Trinity Clinic. The robbers, according to the residents, escaped in an unlicensed taxicab.

A police source told the paper that, Dr Quartey lived with this family in London and was in the country on a short visit. It said that, the robbers, after pulling up in front of the deceased’s Mercedes Benz car at a dark portion of the street near Liquart, ordered the friend (name withheld) who was with him, to lie on the ground while they searched them.

Dr Quartey, who refused to surrender the car keys to the robbers, according to the police, was shot in the left armpit and ribs with a pump action gun.

Efforts to trace the deceased’s relations in Ghana and family in London proved futile as there was no response to the only telephone number provided by the friend. No arrests have been made.

The source noted that lack of streetlights has assisted in perpetrating this new crime wave.

PS: Unconfirmed sources indicate Dr Quartey was a regular visitor to Ghanaweb’s discussion forum using a pseudonym.

Meanwhile, The Ghanaian Times gathered in Tema that at about 7.30am on Sunday, two women and a man, stole phone cards worth ?10m from the Community 7 Shell Shop at Tema where they had gone to buy goods worth ?91,000.

The group, after committing the crime, bolted in a waiting taxi towards Community-Four at Tema. According to eye witnesses, just as the three people were about to leave after purchasing the goods, which they had paid for, one of the ladies requested for some assorted toffees worth ?6,200.

The other lady requested for bottled water but when it was brought to her, she rejected it and demanded and replacement, explaining that it had a leakage.

As one of the two shop attendants was going to replace it, the man picked a bottle of “shito” from the shelf and dropped it, breaking it in the process.

As the attendants were trying to clean the mess, he quickly grabbed some Ghana Telecom (GH) SNAP and Buzz cards as well as all other phone cards worth ?10m and bolted. The ladies, who were in casual wear, joined him and sped off in the taxi. Despite a hot chase by onlookers and passers-by, the robbers could not be apprehended.

When contacted, Ms Mina Afriyie, Supervisor of the Community 7 Shell Shop, confirmed the incident. She said no arrests had been made. The police, according to reports, have visited the scene.