Police return bribe and charge man forced to ease himself in public

Less than 24 hours after The Chronicle exposed the Techiman police for taking GH¢200 bribe from a suspect before granting him bail, a behaviour which the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Paul Tawiah Quaye, abhors, the law enforcement agency has returned the illegal money to the suspect.

Suspect Kwabena Owusu told The Chronicle that the police returned the money to his family yesterday morning, after The Chronicle publication had hit the newsstands. The accused was picked up by the police a couple of days ago, after quarreling with his ex-wife.
He was chained to a pole in the scorching sun in front of the police station, and denied all his rights as a human being. The police, for instance, refused to allow him to attend to nature’s call, compelling the 43 year old suspect to ease on himself in public.

After disgracing him in public, the police then invited a volunteer to wash his body for a fee of GH¢20, which was paid by the family of the suspect. When the relatives of Kwabena Owusu put in an application for bail, the police demanded GH¢200 as a condition for the bail.
The family had no option than to go and borrow money to pay the bribe, before the suspect was released.
Mr. Owusu also told The Chronicle that after the police had returned the money to his family, they also delivered a letter to him to appear before court at Tuobodom today, to answer a charge of resisting arrest and assault of police officers.

The suspect expressed surprise about the charge being made against him, because he was not asked at the police station to write any statement.
Kwabena Owusu further indicated that though he was not all that healthy due to the beating and torture he suffered at the hands of the police, he had no option but to appear before the court.
The 43-year old farmer said he believed in the courts, and was of the conviction that justice would prevail in the matter when the trial commences.

He challenged the assertion by the police that he was behaving like an ‘insane’ person, hence his ordeal. “It’s never true that I behaved like a mad man. I insisted on my rights, and who are they to prove the sanity of someone, where is their evidence,” Owusu challenged.
According to Owusu, the police were trying to cover up their unprofessional acts with allegations of insanity and rowdiness, but they were all false, adding, “I am a very reasonable and responsible man.”

Source Ghanaian Chronicle

Category: Crime