Police open investigations into lynching of alleged cat thief

Police are looking into the stoning-to-death of a middle-aged man alleged to have stolen a cat at Jerusalem, a suburb of Tema Newton in the Greater Accra Region.

Thirty-seven-year-old Abdullah Gedo, popularly known as Duley, was stoned to death by some unknown residents on Sunday dawn for allegedly stealing a cat with an accomplice who is currently on the run.

Reports said some young men who were on a community patrol chanced on the Gedo and the alleged stolen cat and started hitting him with concrete slabs and other materials, causing him bleeding to death.

The suspect was found in a pool of blood with the dead cat and concrete slabs beside him.

But as a follow up to the story, Acting Public Relations Officer of the Tema Police Command, Chief Inspector Stella Dede Dzakpasu, told Graphic Online that police investigators who arrived at the scene took photographs of the crime scene and later conveyed the body of the deceased to the Tema General Hospital where the body was examined and officially pronounced dead.

“She said the body was later deposited at the Mortuary for preservation and autopsy. Chief Inspector Dzakpasu advised the public to desist from lynching and called on residents who witnessed the lynching or have any information about the incident to that contact the Tema Police on 0542719093 to assist the police in their investigation,” the Graphic Online report stated.

Residents say the stealing of cats has become rampant in the area, with almost 10 of such cases being recorded in the area every week.

However, police are yet to confirm if Gedo was lynched for stealing a cat.

Cat meat is a delicacy among a section of the Ghanaian population.

Cats are particularly reared and killed for food among families in the Volta and Oti regions of Ghana.