Information reaching DAILY GUIDE indicates that a police officer on duty at the New Abirem Government Hospital in the New Abirem District of the Eastern Region allegedly beat a 32-year-old illegal miner, David Kwasi Dotse, to death on his sick bed.
Akua Ankomah, wife of the deceased, who confirmed the incident to the paper, said her late husband was afflicted by some disease in the police cells some months ago and was transported to the Central Hospital in Koforidua to seek treatment.
“He recovered and was discharged. I even sold one of our houses to pay the hospital bills, which cost GH¢2,000.00 at Central Hospital in Koforidua, she said.
According to her, the condition of Dotse deteriorated last week and he was again admitted at the New Abirem Government Hospital.
She noted that Dotse told her that the policeman on duty subjected him to severe beatings on his sickbed after he begged him [policeman] not to handcuff his hands in order to wake up to urinate.
“Some nurses also told me that the police officer on duty beat my late husband until he fell from the sick bed onto the floor on Wednesday morning. Some nurses and other patients came to his scene,” Ms Ankoma declared.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that the deceased, who was arrested last year with three other suspects for shooting a taxi driver at a mining site at Ntronan, suburb of New Abirem, died on Wednesday morning after the police officer brutally assaulted him the previous night.
Ms Ankomah said the Ntronan Police Commander and two other policemen came to her house on Wednesday morning to inform her about the husband’s death.
“I rushed to the Abirem Hospital and the doctor confirmed this to me and even asked me to pay GH¢200.00 as the hospital bill. I believe the policeman killed my husband,” she indicated.
The Abirem Police Commander, DSP Amoah, when contacted by DAILY GUIDE, admitted that the suspect died at the hospital but denied reports that he was beaten to death by the police officer on duty.
According to DSP Amoah, he would wait for an autopsy report from the hospital before making further comments on the matter.
From Daniel Bampoe, New Abirem