POLICE CELLS

Rose Hayford Darko, Tema


The Ashaiman Police has been asked to release the body of a 29 year old labourer Saviour Gidiglo who allegedly died in the Ashaiman police cells under mysterious circumstances to an independent body for autopsy to ascertain cause of death .

This was as a result of the insistence of the police to have the autopsy done at the police Hospital than an independent pathologist on the deceased who the family claimed could have died out of internal bleeding after torturing .

Acting on the instructions of the family of the deceased , a Legal Practitioner Mr Sam Brempong in a document has therefore appealed to the Inspector General of Police to order the Ashaiman Police to adhere to their request as a matter of urgency to enable them embalm the body .

According to the document dated 23rd November 2007 and addressed to the Officer In Charge , Ghana Police Service , Ashaiman and copied to the Inspector General of Police , the family of the deceased suspected foul play because Saviour was sent to the police station on 17th November 2007 by a complainant who claimed that the labourer had refused to refund an amount of 1.5 which had been paid him for a manhole contract .

The document stated that the complainant known as Mr Kwasi had earlier on gone to the police and was told to go and settle the case at home because it was a civil case but he was not satisfied and ‘arrested ’ Saviour again and this time the police accepted him .

Narrating the incident to the Daily Graphic at Ashaiman on Saturday 23rd November 2007 the father of the deceased Mr Magnus Gidiglo said his son who did menial jobs for a living had contract from one Mr Kwasi to dig a manhole for him for which Saviour charged 4 million cedis and was paid 1.5 as an advance payment .

He said Saviour employed the services of some other colleagues to assist him to do the work and after digging 4 feet down they got to a rocky surface which needed to be softened with water before work could go on .

Mr Gidiglo said his son went back to the site only to be told that the owner of the project who Mr Kwasi was acting for , had hired an equipment to dig out the rock and completed the work.

He said his son was told that the project owner wanted the work done expressly and therefore could not wait anymore so Saviour had no option but pay off and disperse his gang who assisted him to dig the 4 ft .

Mr Gidiglo said Mr Kwasi started demanding the refund of the advance of 1.5 million cedis from his son who felt cheated because the work was far advanced and was worth more than the amount involved .


He said Mr Kwasi would not agree to it and therefore Saviour’s mother stepped in to accept to refund the money .

Mr Gidiglo said on the 17th of November Mr Kwasi assisted by his wife cornered Saviour and bundled him onto a waiting taxi which took them to an unknown destination only to be told later that his son was in police cells at the Ashaiman Police .

He said on Monday 19th November 2007 when they went to the station to bail the deceased , his cell mates shouted out to them that Saviour was dead .

Mr Gidiglo said they followed up to the Tema General Hospital to enquire and were told by the nurses on duty that the body was delivered by the Ashaiman police at 9.30 am that same Monday Morning already dead as booked in the hospital books .

He sadly said ‘how can my son meet such an untimely death for not committing any criminal offence and the police continue to give contradictory statements about how he died ’ and called for the arrest of the said Mr Kwasi for independently picking Saviour and bundling him into a taxi .

Mr Gidiglo could not reason with the police for refusing the appeal for an independent pathologist to perform the autopsy .

He said on another visit to the mortuary on Saturday 24th November 2007 they were told that the police had removed the body from the Tema General Hospital and this was done without the knowledge of the family creating a suspicious environment .

The Tema Regional Police Crime Officer Chief Superintendent Joshua Dogbeda confirmed the death of Saviour but explained that reports submitted to his office , indicated that the deceased was behaving abnormally at the cells and therefore was sent to the hospital but died while being treated .

He however said he was yet to receive the full report from the Ashaiman police and at the Ashaiman Police Station , the Officer was not available for comments when this reporter went there .