A 26-year-old farmer is battling for his survival at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital after some police officers shot him three times in the arm and leg.
The incident happened on Saturday, October 24, 2020 at Hiaso-Mantemankabi, a farming community in the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa District of Central Region.
Narrating his ordeal to Angel FM’s Kwame Owusu Asante, the Victim -Kofi Appiah- said that “I hadn’t finished speaking when the gunshots started. I was shot in my right hand and my left thigh and then I fell”.
According to Kofi Appiah, the police started firing while he was still pleading with them to either assist him carry his seven cocoa bags home to his mother for safe-keeping or allow him to do so before proceeding to the police station.
The victim explained that, “I was working in my farm when the police officers numbering four came in the company of about eight to 10 other civilians. The police informed me that I am needed at the station. I asked them why they needed me but they only reiterated their message without giving me a reason”.
He stated that one officer, Bright Iyivi, shot at him upon receiving orders from another officer called Timothy, while a third officer, Victor struck him with a stick.
However, the District Police Commander for Asikuma Odoben Brakwa, Chief Superintendent Augustine Odonkor Baah said that Kofi Appiah first attacked the police officers with a concealed weapon.
“That Kofi Appiah is terrible and very wild. He refused to lay down his cutlass when the police instructed him to do so. He picked up something he had concealed in the bushes and attacked one of the officers,” the police commander said.
He explained that Kofi Appiah was hit by a bullet when his officers fired a warning shot to dissuade him [Appiah] from pursuing them with a weapon.
Bench warrant to arrest
Superintendent Baah added that Kofi Appiah was arrested and taken to court for harvesting and selling cocoa belonging to other farmers after a complaint from an affected farmer.
“The court granted him bail but he has refused to show up in court after his first appearance. The court issued a bench warrant for his arrest.
Meanwhile, mother of the victim has appealed to the president and the IGP to intervene in the matter.
According to her, it is just a family misunderstanding about cocoa farms.
She explained that her son was only harvesting cocoa that is going waste only for police to shoot him in his arm, thigh and private part.
“He was shot thrice by the police. His private part was affected and he can’t do anything right now and I rely on him for my daily bread. The doctor says they have to perform a surgery on him but the police seems to have abandoned my son”, she expressed her worries.
