<<Print>>

WHEN OPANIN J. K. Nsiah, a farmer at Nsoatre near Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, put on his cloth and walked to the local police station to report his son, Atta Yaw, after a domestic altercation, little did he know that he was going to ruin the life of his own child. A trigger happy police officer, who was dispatched to the house to arrest Atta Yaw, opened fire on the suspect, who had locked himself in his room and refused to come out. Though the intent of Opanin J.K. Nsiah was to get the police to intimidate his son to exhibit good behaviour, the arresting officer shot at his son�s legs, ending up making him partially crippled. Opanin Nsiah has also not been left out of the misfortune, as he has also become partially dumb following slaps he received from a section of the youth who thought his decision to report Atta Yaw to the police led to the predicament he (Atta Yaw) is currently going through. Surprisingly, the police administration whose personnel exhibited such unethical conduct, which nearly sent Atta Yaw to his grave, has abandoned the victim to his fate. They neither paid his medical bills nor visited him before and after he had been discharged from hospital. Doctors now say Atta Yaw would have to undergo a major operation to correct the defect in one of his legs, else it would be amputated, but the mother of the poor victim has no money to foot the anticipated huge medical bill. Madam Rose Badu, who led her son, Atta Yaw, to the offices of The Chronicle to appeal to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan, to intervene and ensure that the police administration sponsored the operation on the leg of her son, said she returned from farm on Saturday May 16th, 2005, to meet her son on a hospital bed. According to her, whilst she was away at the farm, a misunderstanding arose between his son and husband over what she considered to be a trivial issue, but the husband reported the incident to the police. Madam Rose Badu said when the police officers arrived in the house to arrest her son he was asleep in his room. Surprisingly, she said, the police officer shot into the room through the window. Atta Yaw then came out to enquire from the police man why he was being arrested, but the security man would not answer. Atta Yaw then took a step back to his room, but before the victim could enter his room the police officer opened fire at the legs of his victim twice, sending him sprawling on the ground. After the incident, the police officer left the victim and went back to post. The family then rushed Nana Yaw to hospital to seek medical attention, but, according to Madam Badu, the police never bothered to pay any attention to her son. According to her, the then officer at the Nsoatre Police Station told her months later that there was nothing he could do about the case, and that the police officer who shot her son would definitely be punished by the police administration, but if she wanted compensation or payment for the medical bills, then she should sue the government. Madam Badu further told The Chronicle that even what to eat is a problem, let alone get funds to secure the services of a lawyer to defend the interest of her son in court. She, therefore, petitioned the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to look into the case, since it bordered on human rights violation. CHRAJ accepted to investigate the case, and wrote a letter, with reference number BA/2007/456/iv and dated November 13, 2008, to the IGP, virtually confirming what Madam Badu narrated to The Chronicle. The said letter, which was signed by the Brong Ahafo Regional Director of CHRAJ, Halimatu Nuhu, asked the IGP to confirm whether the incident had come to his attention, and whether action had been taken on the report. The Ombudsman also demanded that a copy of the report sent to the IGP be made available to them before December 3rd, 2008. Madam Badu said upon receipt of the letter from CHRAJ, the IGP sent some plain clothed officers to interview her and the son, and they narrated the incident as it happened. She regretted that after the interview, nothing has been heard from the IGP to date. She said her son now finds it difficult to walk, and doctors have advised that an operation be carried out on the two legs, but she does not have the money to pay the medical bills, hence her call on the present IGP to intervene and make sure that they receive justice.