It’s been one and half years since Emmanuel Adu Poku was knocked and killed in front of the Paloma Hotel, Accra by a Lebanese immigrant and the Nima Police Motor transport Traffic Department has refused to release the report on his death despite several request by the family and human rights lawyers.
Investigations reveal that the Police MTTD officials at the Nima Police station insist they would handle the case themselves without the involvement of a lawyer, despite protest from the family. The mother of the victims has expressed disappointment in the police officers who are refusing to give her the report on the death of her son.
The mother of the victim, Esther Adu, who rejected the decision by the Police to handle the case internally says she is always intimidated when she visits the police station.
“Initially, they kept the report on the murder of my son for a year. Subsequently, they told me to go and pay GHC800 into a particular account and return the receipt for the police report. I paid the money through one Sargent Erasmus Donkor, an elder of the Church of Pentecost at Adabraka who is stationed at the Accra Central Regional Police station. After paying the money, Sargent Donkor subsequently said the receipt was missing. Later on he said he had given it to the MTTD. I even requested for a photocopy of the receipt from him but he refused to hand it over”.
“Later he said he had submitted it to the head of the MTTD at the Nima Police station. I followed up to the station and the officers told me to bring an Identity Card of my son to prove if it’s really my son who was killed. I subsequently provided the identity card only for them to refuse me the report again”.
The police officers said they would process the insurance themselves though they are not lawyers. This is weird because it’s against rule for a police officer who is not a lawyer to do a job of a lawyer. I only know that it’s the job of lawyers to claim insurance for victims and not police officers”
So what is happening at the Nima Police station is strange. I am therefore appealing to the Inspector General of Police, Asante-Appeatu the Minister of Justice, Gloria Akufo and the Interior Minister, as well as the President, Nana Akufo Addo to intervene and call the officers to order.
Emmanuel Adu Opoku was knocked down and killed in November 2017by a Lebanese immigrant who had jumped red light at the Paloma Hotel near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra. He was arrested and granted bail subsequently and the case was shelved in the drawer. People are speculating that money could have changed hands between the accused person and Police leading to the bizarre handling of the case.
