The Legal Team for the family of Shadrach Arloo, the man who was allegedly killed by a police officer and a private guard at the West Hills Mall in Accra have threatened to cause the removal of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) from his post.
According to the legal team led by Lawyer Xavier Sosu, they want the IGP George Akuffo Dampare to supervise a full-scale investigation into the death of the 31-year-old man.
Their demands come barely 48 hours after the Ghana Police Service in a statement issued on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, said the pathologist retrieved from the throat of the 32-year-old dead man “eight zipped bags containing dry leaves, suspected to be narcotic drugs, tied in a piece of black polythene”.
It added the narcotic substances tested positive for cannabis when submitted for forensic examination in the presence of all the interested parties.
“The pathologist gave the verbal cause of death as asphyxiation and obstruction of airway by a foreign body. He also retrieved from the throat of the deceased eight zipped bags containing dry leaves, suspected to be narcotic drugs, tied in a piece of black polythene,” the statement said.
However, the family disagreed with the autopsy report published by the police service and described the report as ‘insensitive and dismissive’ of the painful death of the deceased.
According to the lawyer from FX Law and Associates, Francis-Xavier Sosu, in a statement, there is sufficient evidence from video footages that shows that the deceased died while being manhandled by Police officers and other private security personnel of the West Hills Malls.
This, the lawyer stressed, is why the family want further expansive investigations into the matter within seven days of their statement of displeasure.
The statement added that failure of the Police to expand investigations into the circumstances leading to the death of Shadrach will force the family to petition the Commission on Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
He noted the family will also advocate the immediate resignation of the IGP for failure of the service to protect the life of the deceased suspect in their lawful custody which failure caused and/or contributed to cause of death of the deceased.
Below is the full statement
