NINE (9) years after being brutally assaulted by a mob, which nearly resulted in his demise, ASP Alhaji Mensah,60, now in the Western Regional capital, Takoradi, is still nursing emotional wounds as the Attorney General�s Department seems to have given way to a steely resolve not to prosecute with its loud silence.
However, the man who allegedly masterminded the onslaught on the police officer, Nico C.M. van Staalduinen, is parading the corridors of power as the Managing Director of the Ghana Netherlands Chamber of Commerce and Culture (GHANECC) to the chagrin of sympathizers, family, and friends of ASP Alhaji Mensah.
Consequently, allies of the law enforcement officer, who have vowed not to let the case simply die down, are calling on the Attorney General�s Department to re-launch investigations into the case for it to travel the full length of the judiciary until a conclusion is reached.
The story is that in somewhere 2005, ASP Alhaji Mensah, who was then an Inspector at the Nungua Divisional Police was escorting Nico in a Taxi from Nungua, to the court for prosecution in a case against him in an Accra court when out of the blue, another vehicle crossed their path and stopped their car in the process and Nico allegedly got out of the taxi and bolted.
Worst still, Inspector Alhaji Mensah who, according to sources chased the now GHANECC boss to ensure that he face the full rigours of the law was rather yelled at: �thief! Thief! Thief! in Nungua where the incident happened, thereby alerting the irate youth who pounced on the police officer and allegedly beat him into coma.
Chief Inspector Evans Kumi, who was then the Station Officer at Nungua and had direct knowledge of the case, confirmed the incident to this paper in an interview last Thursday in his office at the Police headquarters in Accra.
One sympathizer to the police officer who wanted to remain anonymous told this paper that, �this man has been involve in s series of high profile blunders against people, worst of all, he caused an attack on a police officer and is still walking a free man. Are there no laws that protect our police officers in this country?�
Meanwhile, Nico C.M. van Staalduinen has rebutted the story saying that �the whole case stinks and everybody knows it�.
Hear him: in 2005, I and my wife had 36 complaints against us, and I am not in the mood to have all this sh�t again�. Asked why he said, �It can�t happen that after nine years, one of the cases comes up again for nothing�.
Describing the story as a fancy one, Nico van Staalduinen told this paper in our office on Friday afternoon that he was acquitted of the case by the Attorney General�s department just a year before Christmas.
The Ghana Netherlands Chamber of Commerce and Culture is an all-source information body for business and investment needs in Ghana and the Netherlands. The main objective of Ghana Netherlands Chamber of Commerce and Culture (GHANECC) is to facilitate business relations between Ghana and the Netherlands.
Stay tuned as the story is just revving up.
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