Assault case: police refuse to reveal where the driver and his companion "Trotro" are

General News of Friday, March 22, 2019

Source: kasapafmonline.com

2019-03-22

The Human Rights Advocacy Center (HRAC) has asked the Ghanaian police to provide its office with information on the whereabouts of the commercial bus driver and his chief, who allegedly badaulted a police officer in Weija on 16 March 2019, to allow the center to grant the accused legal representation.

In a statement issued by the Human Rights Advocacy Center (HRAC), this center explained that Odorkor District police claim to have transferred the two men from their custody to the police headquarters at Accra. Headquarters officials also denied receiving the defendants.

The driver, Francis Buabeng, and his companion, Albert Ansah, were arrested last week after being captured in a video exchanging shots with a uniformed policeman at a bus stop around Weija in Accra.

Read the full statement below.

We went to the Odorkor District Police Station to visit the accused and provide them with legal representation in accordance with their right to a fair trial under Article 19 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana. Officer Jonas, an investigator at the police station, however, informed us that the accused had been transferred to the police headquarters. The representatives of the Human Rights Defense Center went to the police headquarters to investigate and were informed that it did not maintain detention cells for remand prisoners and that the defendants did not could be detained.

Through this statement, we draw the attention of the general public to the fact that we do not know where the two accused are. The Ghana Police Service failed and refused to inform us of their whereabouts and denied us access to the accused while they were in police custody on the 18th. March, when they were brought to justice in Weija. This is an obvious violation of their right to legal representation and contrary to the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.

We call on the Ghana Police Service to immediately provide the Human Rights Center with information on the whereabouts of the two accused, as requested in our letter to the Director General of the Criminal Investigation Department at the headquarters The police, along with a copy to the Inspector General of Ghana Police Services and the commander of the Odorkor District Police Station, dated March 21, 2019, also required that the accused be immediately available. so that the "HRAC" can provide them with legal representation.