Police officer commits suicide in Kumasi

A 33-year-old policeman with the Ashanti Regional Police Command committed suicide Wednesday morning after one of the three women he had children with had allegedly told him he was not the biological father of their child.

Corporal Ebenezer Kofi Okyere, who was attached to the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Unit of the Ghana Police Service (GPS), is said to have shot himself in the jaw.

The incident occurred at Tafo Mile 4 in the Kumasi metropolis at 6:30 a.m. following a phone call Cpl Okyere is said to have received from a woman.

The policeman was allegedly overheard by his girlfriend, a student nurse who had spent the night with him, threatening to kill himself during the conversation with the caller if she (the caller) insisted that he (the policeman) was not the father of their child.

Cpl Okyere, who had been assigned special duties with the Forestry Commission, was expected to report to work yesterday morning after being off duty the previous day.

Confirmation

The Public Relations Officer of the Ashanti Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ms Juliana Obeng, confirmed the incident but declined to give further details except that the service was investigating the matter.

The body has since been deposited at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital mortuary, awaiting autopsy.

Second suicide

The incident is the second suicide case to have hit the GPS this year. In April, a policewoman, Constable Peace Agbemafor, 31, stationed at Garu-Tempane in the Upper West Region, took her life in a similar manner.