There is an uneasy calm following the death of a 23-year-old man in Police custody.
He was arrested in connection with a robbery incident at Kasoa Big Man Town in the Awutu Senya East Municipality of the Central Region.
The suspect was allegedly part of three robbers who shot a mobile money vendor, who is currently battling for his life and took away an undisclosed amount on December 20, 2022.
They were arrested after they were captured on CCTV cameras in the area.
But one of the robbers, Gordon Okai has died in Police custody. It is however unclear what might have caused his death.
The family of the deceased, who is accusing the Kasoa Divisional Police Command of the death of their son, is appealing to the IGP as a matter of urgency to investigate. They added that Mr Okai is innocent.
Godfred Okai, affectionately called Junior by relatives and also known as “Why Worry?”, was being held by Police as a suspect in the recent robbery incident.
Family members of the deceased claimed the Police broke into his room in the middle of the night on December 23, 2022, to arrest him but failed to disclose which particular station he was being taken to.
They alleged that Police officers kept directing them to the wrong stations, including the headquarters as where he was being kept and even though they followed up at all those stations, Junior was not found.
A Police team however reached out to them on Tuesday, December 27, 2022, and invited them to the Kasoa Divisional Police Command where they were informed that Godfred had fallen ill and died while in custody.
The mother of the victim, Annal Dugan, believes that he might have died as a result of brutality. She accused Police of severely brutalising the deceased at the time of the arrest.
Meanwhile, some residents are calling on the Police administration to investigate matters surrounding his arrest, brutality and subsequent death thoroughly and have any Police officer found culpable sanctioned.
When Adom News’ Kofi Adjei contacted the Kasoa Divisional Commander, Chief Supt. Charles Koosonu, he referred the reporter to the Central East Regional Commander ACP David S. Eklu.
Efforts to reach him as at the time of filing this report were however unsuccessful.