Crime & Punishment of Wednesday, 29 January 2020
Source: ghananewsagency.org
File photo
Residents of Tademe, a suburb of Tefle in the Southern Tongu District of the Volta region are blaming the police for not being proactive leading to the success of a robbery incident in the community.
The community’s beef was that the Police when the ongoing robbery was reported to them allegedly claimed their gun was malfunctioning.
The residents said the armed robbers who entered the room of one Bright Addo, a mobile money vendor, at midnight on Monday shot him twice in his left leg would have been arrested.
The eye witness said if only the police had carried a gun that could fire, adding that “the police at the Tefle barrier came to the scene yet they could not fire, all they told us is, their gun is not working and left”.
Emmanuel Awudi, an eye witness who went to call the police said immediately the police left, the armed robbers went into another room and shot another person, packing all their belongings and money.
He said the robbery lasted for an hour with the robbers ransacking the two rooms after shooting three people.
Mr Dennis Korku Fiakpui, the Divisional Police Commander for South Tongu said before any gun moved out of the Police Station, it is tested and checked and that he did not know why the policeman on duty would say the gun he was holding on the field was not working.
He asked the families of the victims to report the incident to the Tefle Police Station and promised to take drastic measures to get the perpetrators and the version of the Police officers being alleged to be at the scene.
Checks by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) indicates that the injured persons had been rushed to the Sogakope District Hospital.
Meanwhile, a senior Police Officer who sought anonymity told the GNA that storage condition of guns could make them malfunction.
He said poor handling and misfired guns, which were not checked could also malfunction.
