West Hills Mall incident: Lawyer Sosu responds to statement by police

Lawyer of the family of the late Shadrach Arloo, who died after allegedly being manhandled by some personnel of the Ghana Police Service at West Hills Mall, Francis-Xavier Sosu, has responded to a statement issued by the police after their investigation of the matter.

The police said that their investigation of the death of Shadrach Arloo showed that the policeman in question, did no wrong.

The statement, dated February 7, 2023, said that the late brother of gospel musician Perpetual Didier resisted arrest by a police officer on duty who was being assisted by private security guards at the scene.

The statement furthered that the deceased, after swallowing a package, became unconscious and was taken to the Sonotech Clinic for medical attention but was pronounced dead on arrival.

It added that per a post-mortem examination conducted on the deceased and in the presence of as many witnesses from the deceased’s family and other officials, including MP Dorcas Affo-Toffey, it was confirmed that the cause of death was Asphyxiation and Obstruction of the airway by a foreign body.

Reacting to this in a statement issued on Wednesday, Lawyer Sosu said that the cause of death of Shadrach Arloo given by the police pathologist is inconclusive.

Sosu, the Member of Parliament for Madina, added that there is enough evidence to show that the victim was manhandled by the police officer, which fact was not indicated by the investigation of the police.

“The verbal cause of death given by the Police pathologist as Asphyxiation and obstruction of the airway by a foreign body is inconclusive and cannot be relied on as the only cause of death of the deceased without carefully analysing and investigating all the events that led to the demise of the deceased. We demand for the full detailed autopsy report as a matter of urgency.

“The opinion given by the police Pathologist can be accepted or rejected based on the causal links of other factors leading to the death and not binding of a Jury in a murder or manslaughter trial,” parts of the statement read.

The lawyer said that, in their view, the death of Shadrach Arloo is a clear case of homicide and called for “a wider investigation and a chronological presentation of events of that fateful day”.

He added that should the police fail to yield to the demand, the family has instructed him to take a number of actions including petitioning President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to sack the IGP, Dr George Akuffo Dampare.

Read the full statement below:



IB/SARA