Man remanded for shooting 3 at funeral
Emelia Ennin Abbey 3 minutes read
The Sowutuom Magistrate Court has remanded a 49-year-old man, Eric Richard Ashie, accused of shooting and injuring three persons during a funeral ceremony at Joma, near Ablekuma, in the Ga West District, in police custody.
The three victims included two teenagers, aged 13 and 16, and a 26-year-old man.
They are Kamal Nurideen, 13, who sustained a bullet wound to his head and is said to be in a critical condition at the 37 Military Hospital; Fuseini Amidu, 16, and Mohammed Abdul Tawab, 26, both of whom were treated at the Oduman Clinic for various injuries and have since been discharged.
The court, presided over by Mr Stephen Tabiri, remanded Ashie in police custody to reappear before the court on August 28, 2020.
Prosecution
Prosecuting, Sergent Regina Nyarko told the court that at about 2:35 p.m. on July 25, 2020, the Anyah District Police Patrol team was carrying out patrol duties within Ablekuma and its environs when they heard of a shooting incident at Joma.
The team, she said, proceeded to the scene where they saw that a funeral was ongoing. The prosecutor said when the team got to the scene, the mob had already apprehended Ashie and subjected him to severe beatings on suspicion that he might have fired the shots at the victims.
Sgt Nyarko stated that some good Samaritans rushed the victims to the Oduman Clinic, near Ablekuma, where Tawab and Fuseini, who had blood stains all over their bodies, were admitted while Nurideen was transferred to the 37 Military Hospital for treatment.
A team of investigators who visited Nurideen at the 37 Military Hospital found out that he was being prepared for surgery to remove a pellet in his forehead.
Father remanded
In a related development, the court also remanded a 35 year-old father who inflicted razor blade wounds on his four- year- old son.
The accused, Anthony Adjei, was arrested at New Weija after he had inflicted razor wounds on the hands of his son who sustained deep cuts on his right arm but was abandoned to his fate.
A visitor to the family saw the wounds and reported the incident to the Weija Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police, leading to the arrest of Adjei.
The Weija Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Bernard Bentil, remanded Adjei in police custody to reappear on August 12, 2020, after the accused pleaded not guilty to a charge of causing harm.
The court heard that the victim, who was a school dropout, had been living with his father, a paternal aunt and his siblings after his mother allegedly left in 2019 to an unknown location due to the abusive nature of Adjei.
On July 26, 2020, a friend of the family visited them and saw the victim with wounds on his hands and after questioning the four- year-old boy he answered that it was Adjei who used a razor blade to cut his hands.
Victim hungry
The victim claimed he was hungry the previous night and took a piece of chicken that had been kept in their fridge and ate it.
However, Adjei is said to have been angered by the boy’s action even though he explained that he was hungry at the time and there was no food while neither he (the father) nor the aunt was at home.
Adjei allegedly took a razor blade and inflicted the wounds on the boy's arm to teach him and his siblings a lesson.