Family of the late Francis Tetteh Botchwey, 69, a Kingmaker of the Miotso Traditional area within the Ningo Prampram District of the Greater Accra Region, who was gruesomely murdered by suspected police officers with the aid of some land guards on the 29th of December 2016, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, David Asante Apeatu.
The family wants the police administration to as a matter of urgency ensure the arrest and prosecution of all persons involved in the murder of their kinsman. .
BACKGROUND
It would be recalled that on the Friday the 29th of December 2016, the late Francis Botchwey was allegedly murdered in cold blood by police officers from the Tema Regional Police Command with the aid of some suspected land guards from Dawhenya enclave, another suburb of the Ningo Prampram District.
Events leading to the murder of Mr Francis Botchwey who was killed together with his employee in his uncompleted building, after he had gone there to inspect the progress of work on the building, was as a result of earlier skirmishes perpetrated by some suspected land guards from Dawhenya.
The land guards were allegedly sent there to terrorise residents over a longstanding land dispute in the Miotso Township.
The said disputed land was duly contested in court by the Miotso traditional area led by the late Francis Botchwey and won with a ruling in their favour.
Eyewitness accounts gave a vivid picture of how eight policemen who were dispatched to the scene to restore calm and order, managed to trail the late Francis Tetteh Botchwey,(who had been the target of the land guards, to his uncompleted building with the aid of some suspected land guards who had been arrested by the police earlier on for their role in the violence.
They [land guards] were placed at the "bucket of a police pick-up and allegedly shot Francis with the excuse that he was mistaken for a suspected armed land gaurd operative".
Police report on the matter is fraught with several inconsistencies as it claimed that the late kingmaker had a gun in his possession and had wanted to attack them, whereas the account of some eye witnesses and that of some private detectives mandated to investigate the case proved contrary.
The late Francis Botchwey
Unanswered questions:
It's been almost two years now since the murder of Francis Botchwey, 69 who left behind 8 children and two wives, and yet the police have failed to even haul before court and prosecute the 12 suspects who were arrested in connection to the murder.
Despite concrete evidence provided to the police on suspected land guards who had caused the earlier skirmishes that led to the death of Mr Francis Botchwey, nothing has been done or said by the police.
A recent directive from the IGP to the police administration to interrogate personnel including the then former Tema Regional police commander DCOP Awini, Director of Operations COP John Kudalor( who later became IGP) accused of compromising their offices in the matter, is yet to be followed or adhered to.
More soon
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com
