Police arrest suspects in PM's murder

Atronie (B/A), April 10, GNA - The Brong-Ahafo Regional Police Command has arrested 16 youth suspected to have murdered Mr. Anthony Yeboah Boateng, an administrator of the Goaso Government Hospital, on Easter Sunday at Atronie in the Sunyani municipality.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Lartey Lawson told the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday the police on Monday mounted a barrier on the road to Atronie following the incident and a check in some vehicles led to the arrest of the suspects.

The suspects are all residents of the town but had bolted after the incident.

The deceased, who was the Presiding Member of the Asunafo North District Assembly, was murdered by some unidentified youth at Atronie near the police station and adjacent to the chief's palace. An eyewitness told the GNA that the late Mr. Boateng, his wife and a Catholic reverend sister were conveying the body of his aunt in his private car from Sunyani to the Goaso government hospital. On reaching Atronie at about 2100 hours the assailants had barricaded the road for a street jam to celebrate the Easter festivities.

The eyewitness said the youth ordered the deceased, who was driving, to stop which he did and when they went near the vehicle they saw the dead body in the car and suspected him to be a serial killer. "When Mr. Boateng came out from the vehicle to explain to the angry youth they attacked him with stones and other offensive weapons killing him instantly in the presence of the wife and the reverend sister who looked on helplessly", the eyewitness said.

The policeman on duty at the police station went in and attempted to rescue the deceased but the youth assaulted him. He whisked the deceased's wife and the reverend sister to the safety of the station before rushing to a near by clinic where he was treated and discharged.

When members of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) visited the town most residents, particularly the youth, had deserted the town leaving only children and the aged.

Mr. Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, Regional Minister and Chairman of the REGSEC, condemned the act and consoled the family of the deceased. He gave the assurance that REGSEC would thoroughly investigate the case to bring the perpetrators to face the full rigours of the law. The Regional Minister appealed to the public to provide the police with information for the arrest of the assailants. The people of Atronie experienced serial killings early this year as a result of which the chief of the town ordered all non-citizens to leave the town.

In another development, Mr Amo, a 27-year-old science and mathematics teacher of the Seventh Day Adventist Junior Secondary School at Offuman in Techiman Municipality was on Tuesday stabbed to death by a friend.

Mr. Emmanuel Atodra Kyere, Assembly Member for Dankwaso electoral area, told the GNA the teacher had an argument with his friend, Washington Kwame Anim, unemployed, over a wrist watch during which Anim stabbed him in the ribs.

The teacher was taken to the Offuman Health Centre but was transferred to the Holy Family Hospital in Techiman where he died shortly on arrival.

The assembly member said Anim had absconded and the community had mounted an intensive search for him.