Bonya residents threaten mob justice over student's death

Residents allege that the suspect has been set free by the Police, a claim the Police strongly deny

Tension is mounting in Bonya and other surrounding communities in the New Juaben Municipality of the Eastern region over the murder of a 17-year-old student of Begoro SHS, Gifty Yayera Segbator.

Residents are threatening to take the law into their own hands by launching a mob justice attack on the lead suspect if Police fail to prosecute him and his accomplices.

The suspect is reported to be a spiritualist notorious for criminal activities in the area. Suspicions of the residents deepened when the body was suddenly found in a river close to the house of the suspect after a search in the area.

The angry residents arrested the lead suspect and handed him over to the Okorase Police, however, they allege that the suspect has been set free by the Police, a claim the Police strongly deny.

A leader of the incensed residents, Martin Offei in an interview with Starr News on Sunday stated that, the community is not happy about how the Police is handling the investigation.

He said the suspect is a known criminal in the area who has attempted to murder some residents at night on several occasions. Mr. Offei said, though leaders of the community continue to restrain the youth from taking mob action against the suspect, he cannot guarantee any spontaneous revolt.

An opinion leader at Bonya community Stephen Kumi Walker downplayed Police account that the deceased drowned. According to him, the shallow and chocked river cannot drown the deceased adding that, observations on the body attest to a fact of foul play.

The family of the deceased tells Starr News, they are not satisfied with how the police is investigating the matter, threatening to take the matter to a higher body if justice is jeopardized. Seventeen-year-old Gifty Yayera Sogbator was murdered Monday, August 7, after she went missing for a day.

Gifty was allegedly returning from Choir rehearsals from her church when her alleged assailants murdered her and reportedly dumped her body in a small river.

The body of the deceased has been deposited at the Morgue pending an autopsy on Monday.