Dame, Dampare sued for GH¢10m by family of man allegedly killed by 9 police officers

The family of a man who was allegedly killed by some police personnel at Adomfe, in the Asante Akyem South Municipality of the Ashanti Region, have filed a GH¢10 million suit against the Inspector General of Police, COP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare; the Ghana Police Service, and the Attorney General. The suit, according to a report by The Chronicle newspaper, is jointly filed with nine others. Stating the details available to it, the newspaper said that the deceased man, 33-year-old Kofi Ampomah, was allegedly seized by nine police officers on October 15, 2022, just after he had closed from work. Further details said that upon his seizure, the police officers allegedly assaulted him by using pepper spray on him, after which they butchered him with cutlasses or machetes. The police are then said to have left the man unattended. Maxwell Boamah, who is said to be a customary successor of the late Kofi Ampomah, is also reported to have said that the body of the deceased was handled like an animal by the officers from the Konongo Division of the Ghana Police Service. “The police finally dumped the deceased at Konongo Odumasi Government Hospital and lied that he had been killed by armed robbers,” details of the writ said. The report added that the family of the deceased is filing a suit for GH¢10 million as compensation that will be used for the education, maintenance, upkeep, and trauma suffered by the dependants of the deceased. Why Kofi Ampomah was killed? The Chronicle newspaper explained that Boamah, the relative of the deceased, said that Kofi was mistaken for a young man who had allegedly reported the defendants (the nine policemen) to the Bompata police for apparently releasing a woman. The woman, it added, was allegedly selling local gin mixed with a substance suspected to be Indian hemp to the public. “He averred that the police, on two different occasions, arrested and released the woman in question after extorting GH¢3,000 and GH¢4,000 respectively from her,” the report said. Police officers named in the writ: According to the writ, the following are the names of the officers alleged to have been involved in the death of Kofi Ampomah: General Sergeant Suleman Seidu (Sully Seidu), G/CPL Seth Agbango (Seth Agbango), D/L/CPL Salifu Yakubu, G/SGT Samuel Awrjamb, G/SGT Opare Samuel (Opare Samuel Antwi), D/CPL James Astikson Mensah (James Mensah), G/CPL Nyame Hayford, G/CPL Emmanuel Divines Delasi (Delasi Divine), and G/L/CPL Samuel Kwame Gorman (Gorman Samuel). Additionally, the writ has named the IGP, COP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, and the AG, Godfred Dame, jointly in the case. About the late Kofi Ampomah: Details contained in the writ showed that the deceased was a Sprinter 'trotro' driver who plied his trade along the Adomfe to Kumasi Road. Watch the latest episode of People&Places on GhanaWeb TV below: Watch the latest episode of The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV below: AE/BOG