Man recounts how he was wrongly detained, assaulted over killing of police officers in 2019 at Kasoa

On August 28, 2019, two police officers of the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) detachment at Kasoa were gruesomely shot and killed by a gang of armed robbers.

The death of General Lance Corporal Mohammed Awal and Sergeant Dzamesi sparked outrage and sent the entire Ghana Police Service on a wild chase for their killers.

Some three years after the sad incident, a young man who was wrongly arrested and assaulted over the death of the police officers has opened up about his ordeal and its resulting impact on his life.

According to Isaac Amissah, he was on the day of the incident with a friend when a call came that robbers had stolen a car belonging to an acquaintance of theirs and that the vehicle had been spotted around the Kasoa area.

Hearing a group of bikers chase after the alleged robbers, Amissah said he and his colleague hopped on a motorbike to join the chase.

After riding for several minutes without a trace of the robbers, they came across a team of police patrol cars and their quest to inquire from the officers whether their presence in the area had any correlation with the missing car began their troubles.

“We met about three police patrol cars with fully armed officers swarmed around. I told my friend to let me inquire from them if they were also chasing after the supposed robbers because they had already arrested one guy.

“I approached a senior officer at the scene and told him that our car had been stolen. I asked him whether the person they had arrested was a suspect and he asked me what type of car I was referring to and I said a blue Camry with DV registration. As soon as I mentioned the blue Camry and registration a commander at the scene ordered that we be handcuffed. I tried to explain that we were only helping a friend find his missing car but he maintained his position by ordering our arrest,” he narrated in an interview with Oman Channel.

Amissah explained that he and his friend at the time of their arrest had no idea about the killing of two police officers by a gang of armed robbers earlier that morning.

“They bundled us in their car with loud sirens blaring and set off for the station. Throughout the journey, they kept mentioning on their big phones that they have arrested some suspects. I kept wondering what had happened because all along I didn’t know some police officers had been shot and killed,” he said.
With a group of police officers and members of the public already waiting at the Kasoa Police Station, Amissah said their arrival at the station was greeted with brutalisation from all angles.

“We didn’t even get down from the car and we were being hit with stones and sticks. Right inside the car. All the civilians were involved while some of the police officers also joined in. As you can see, I have scars all over me,” he said.

With no opportunity given to speak out, Amissah who is a stammerer said he, his friend and four other persons arrested for the alleged crime were subjected to various forms of assault at the hands of angry police officers for over a month.

He said the police later announced the arrest of the actual suspects which eventually earned him and the other five their freedoms.

Despite his release about a month and a week after his arrest, Amissah said he has suffered damages which have impacted his life in a lot of ways.

Aside the scars he has been left to live with, he currently suffers from a knee problem as a result of a police officer kicking his knee with his boots.

He has yet to recover from the financial losses including mobile phone business and electrical appliances when the police ransacked his room to search for evidence. The incident he said also affected his family.

With an amount of GHC6,000 needed to fix his knee, Amissah is hopeful benevolent persons will come to his aid to help him get medical attention and also resume his mobile phone business.

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