General News of Wednesday, 17 October 2012

Source: Daily Guide

Suspected Thief Lynched

The culture of instant justice seems to be gradually creeping into the system these days.

A typical example of instant justice was what happened to a young man at the Techiman Methodist Park on Tuesday October 16, 2012.

An eyewitness to the gruesome display told Daily Guide that the victim who was yet to be identified was chased by a group of young men who suspected him to be an armed robber to the park where they beat him into coma.

Nsiah Kwadwo who spoke to DAILY GUIDE said the young men used stones and other sharp implements to hit the victim and attempted to burn him.

According to eyewitness, at about 9:00 p.m., the people living around the area heard a shout of “thief, thief” and came out to find the mob beating up the young man. He said even though some of the witnesses tried to stop them, they continued to beat him up until he died.

When Daily Guide visited the spot a group of men and women surrounded the corpse, awaiting the arrival of the police.

Speaking to this reporter on the basis of anonymity, an old man who was among the crowd said the people who lived in that area had no confidence in the police because on many occasions when a thief was arrested and taken to the police station, they later found the thief roaming the area. He said even though instant justice was not acceptable, the people had no choice but to apply it to send a signal to armed robbers that they would not have it easy in the area this time around.