Ofankor landlord remanded

The landlord who was arrested for shooting his tenant at Ofankor, in the Greater Accra Region, has been remanded in police custody by the Abeka District Magistrate Court.

The accused person, Victor Stephen Nana Kankam, 38, was arrested on Sunday by the Mile Seven Police for allegedly shooting his tenant.

The tenant, a budding musician, Benjamin Okyere, 31, popularly known as thrilionaire and known for his album titled Pon Dem, was pronounced dead when he was taken to the Police Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.

He was taken to court on a provisional murder charge.

The court, presided over by Mrs Adwoa Akyaamaah Ofosu, after hearing the facts of the case, did not take the plea of the accused person.

It remanded the suspect in police custody to reappear on June 8, 2020.

The remand followed a request by the police to enable them to have enough time for further investigations and also test Kankam for the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Community

The incident has turned the otherwise, quiet community into a ‘tourist centre’ as people are visiting the crime scene to see things for themselves.

The incident also sparked some outrage from some youth in the community who in reaction, tried to set the property, which was the subject of litigation, on fire.

When the Daily Graphic visited the home where the incident happened, there was calm, though some people were seen gathered close by discussing the issue.

The police had not cordoned off the place to indicate that the place was a crime scene and under investigation.

The Daily Graphic found the main gate leading to the house destroyed, leaving the house exposed while the glass sliding door and windows had all been destroyed.

The apartment is one of two-joint single bedroom facilities but the only completed one, as the twin facility was yet to be completed, though roofed.

The building was covered in soot while electric wires in the house had also been disconnected.

Attack on landlord

The apartment where the landlord resides was not spared the wrath of the youth as they stormed there and attempted to destroy that property also.

Although they were not able to enter the place, according to some members of the community, they threw stones into the two-storey apartment and in the process, damaged some of the sliding windows.

Speaking to some neighbours of Benjamin Okyere, most of them said they were indoors and thus did not see what happened. They only heard the gunshot and realised later that such a tragic incident had happened.

A neighbour, who gave his name only as Abdul, and lives some few houses away, said after the shooting incident, some friends of the victim came to pick all his belongings from the house before the vandalism occurred.

“My house is just a stone’s throw from the place where the incident occurred and I’ve known the victim for more than a year now, I’ve not witnessed any form of exchange between him and his landlord and this is very surprising,” he said.

Background

Kankam allegedly shot Okyere for refusing to vacate a two-bedroom apartment at Ofankor Spot M, in the Greater Accra Region.

Okyere, who had been living in the rented room for two years, was asked by the landlord to vacate the room immediately after his rent expired.

The two years’ rent was to expire on May 24, 2020, and the victim was shot at about 1:33 p.m. that fateful day.