Murdered student's family appeals to Kufuor

The father of the late Joseph Yawo Avonor, the Accra Polytechnic student killed by a Policeman in Accra on August 16, has described the Police Service’s claim that his son died accidentally as “insensible, preposterous and damaging to the image of the service.”

Emmanuel Kwashie Avonor has therefore appealed to President John Kuffour to ensure that justice is done. He wondered how an incident that occurred in broad daylight in the presence of eyewitnesses, some of whom have spoken to the Police, could be “twisted without the slightest pinch of sensitivity” to cover “a reckless Policeman whose crave for alcohol is confirmed by his colleagues.”

Avonor has therefore challenged the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and all officers connected with the case to demonstrate human feelings and professional competence to get to the bottom of the case and come out with the truth.

He said until Ghanaians are told the truth about his son’s death, the Police Service can never justify its call for public support in fighting crime.

Avonor was reacting to a Daily Graphic report of last Saturday, August 25, in which Inspector Kwame Tawiah of the Police Public Relations Directorate claimed investigations had established that Corporal Twumasi Appiah shot and killed his son accidentally. This was at a family meeting last Sunday, at Darkuman-Nyamekye, a suburb of Accra, to which The Dispatch was invited.

The aggrieved father, who was struggling to remain stoic, wondered how the Police could claim to have concluded their investigations when a post-mortem examination, which is a crucial part of the investigations, was yet to be conducted on the body.