It was a Thursday morning around 0600hours, when Mr Aboagye Okyere and the wife, Mrs Mary Aboagye (38 years old then) were moving in a taxi cab from their residence at Ankafulfie, in the Cape Coast Metropolis of the Central region going to work at Abura, (about 10 minutes driving distance).
Also in the car, in addition to the driver were a 16 year old female student of Academy of Christ the King Senior High School and a son of the couple, making the occupants five.
Upon reaching Ankaful junction turning to Abura route, a gunshots were suddenly heard and to the surprise of the occupants of the Taxi cab, the direction of the gun was on the rear side of their car, the bullet(s) entered the car through the number plate, penetrated the back seat and the front seat then to the dashboard.
Sitting position in the car
Mrs Aboagye was sitting at the front(the right side of the driver) , the student was sitting right behind the driver as Mr Aboagye was also sitting right behind the wife whilst their son also sat in between Mr Aboagye and the student.
So the stray bullet hit Mr Aboagye (in between his right arm and his ribs) then to the wife at the front killing her on the spot leaving the student and Mr Aboagye injured.
Police’s Press briefing
Pressmen in the region had invitation from the regional police command for briefing same day around 1300hours.
In his address, the Regional commander, then Deputy Commissioner Of Police (DCOP) but now Commissioner Of Police (COP) Paul Manly Awini, said a police patrol team from Twifo Praso in the Twifo Attimokwa district were pursuing some suspected robbers who were occupying a BMW saloon car with registration number GT 4523 J from Praso and upon reaching Ankaful junction in the Cape Coast Metropolis, after they (suspects) had ignored signals from police officers at post at the numerous barriers on the Praso – Cape Coast stretch and caused damage to their barricades, started firing at the police which the police also returned fire.
“A stray bullet, in the process hit a taxi cab which was caught up between the police and the suspects’ vehicles and a woman identified as Mary Aboagye was hit by the bullet and lost the life as her husband, Mr Aboagye Okyere-47, also sustained injury from same and he has been taken to hospital,” Mr Awini added.
Mr Awini revealed further that a 15year old girl also identified as Cecilia Mensah who was standing by the roadside looking for vehicle to school was also hit by the bullet and was rushed to hospital and had since been discharged.
In the process, he continued, the
suspects’ vehicle ran into a ditch and one of them (suspects) who was with a rifle fell down and quickly got up and ran through the bush with the rifle and the police managed to arrest the remaining two of them.
COP Awini noted that, the police upon checking the suspects’ vehicle, saw some dead and live goats making them suspect that they (suspects) had gone to steal the goats from somewhere.
When I, Kojo Ata Kakrah Abrowah, asked the commander as whose, whether the police or the suspected criminals’ bullet hit the taxi, he said it was too early to ascertain that and that we should wait for the investigations to be done.
He revealed that the case had been ordered by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) then to be sent to the national headquarters for the investigations to be carried from there.
The Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Irene Serwaa Oppong, together with a Criminal Investigations Department (CID) officer upon orders of the commander took the pressmen to where the suspects’ vehicle and the taxicab had been parked at the police station to show and explained further to us how the ‘rambo style-like’ incident happened.
(find attached the pictures).
Five dead goats were seen there and other seven live goats caged in a pen.(find attached picture)
Stained blood were also seen on the taxicab’s seats with more on the front passenger’s side.
The deceased buried.
Late Mrs Aboagye, mother of three (two females and a male) was finally laid to rest on the 9th March, 2019 at Ankafulfie.
I was present at the funeral and my checks revealed that all the cost of the funeral was beard by the living husband without a dime from ‘ anywhere’
Mr Aboagye Okyere, in his tribute to the late wife, described the demise as a blow to him saying, they had lived as happy family for 19years and had both faced the ups and downs in life.
“She came into my life for a purpose and the purpose she has perfectly accomplished. Everywhere I went, I went with her….she would call me ‘Kay’, and I would also respond ‘Kay’ and gives me a sign of which only the two of us understood that sign. She came into my life to used her strengths to complement my weakness that I may be whole…..give mother pesewa, and she would turn it into cedis; give her a room and she would turn it into a house”, excerpts of his tribute to his late wife read.
In an interview at the funeral ground, he said “justice is what we need….the police should let us know how my wife died….they should come out with the report for all of us to see who killed mother (referring to her late wife) because I was in the car and I also saw what happened so we are waiting. We need justice.”
One year on
Today, 10th January, 2020 is exactly one year when this sad incident occurred and the victims ‘are yet to get justice’
In a telephone interview with Mr Aboagye, he said he has been going to the national police headquarters on countless times just to get justice “but to no avail”.
He believes it was the police who shot at them
“Ghana police, they are not faithful and trustworthy, in fact I have been telling them pointblank even at the national headquarters that they are not honest. They know it is their men who killed my wife but they are shielding them,” he angrily lamented.
“Let’s draw this scenario”, he continued, “the suspected thieves were in front of our taxi, we were in the middle and the police vehicle was behind us, and the bullets also came from our behind and they are telling us they don’t know who caused this havoc? my goodness.”
Mr Aboagye further revealed that the bullet retrieved from the wife by pathologists and shown to him by the police was that of the police, saying, “the suspects were just goats thieves and how can goats thieves carry AK47 for an operation?,” he quizzed
According to him, the demise of the wife and the subsequent moves to and fro Accra had brought hardship to his nuclear family which has resulted in his inability to send his son who has completed SHS to university.
He said, he was looking forward to hear something better from the police now that the Christmas and the new year holidays are over “because they assured me, before the holidays, that I would hear from them….that was after they had asked my lawyer and the Academy student’s family to write to them what we wanted them to give to us as compensation.”
My take, questions and preliminary observations
- It’s obvious that the suspects were probably not carrying any gun.
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The school girl was not standing by the roadside.
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Since the police is planning on compensating the victims, (as heard from Mr Aboagye) then does that mean the police have admitted that the shooting and murder were caused by their men?
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If so, then what happens to the officer who perpetrated this act?
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Where are the two suspects arrested?
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Why did the police decide to use arm on armless suspects leading to the killing of an innocent mother and breadwinner?
Still, my question is, “who killed Mrs. Aboagye?”
Source: Kojo Ata Kakrah Abrowah (KAKA) || ghananewsonline.com.gh
anthonyabrowah@gmail.com