The family of a suspect who was found dead in a Police cell in Zebilla on Tuesday February 25, is accusing the police at the Zebilla Police Station of denying them pictures of their deceased relative but rather circulating the pictures on Facebook .
A family member, Akparibila Illiasu, who spoke with the Daily Guide from Zebilla, said the family elders who were called to the Police station to see the hanging body of their deceased relation in the police cell, were not allowed to take pictures and when the police visited the family to console them, the police failed to show them pictures, with the excuse that the officer handling the case was not available.
The suspect, Sumaila Issifu (now deceased) who had been in the Zebilla police cell for almost three months was found hanging in a bathroom inside the police cell on February 25,2020.
He is reported to have hang himself with a bedsheet.
According to the family member, though the family has no evidence to dispute the police account of how their brother died, it is however very difficult for them to believe the police account and imagine how their brother got to tie the bedsheet to the high ceiling to hang himself.
The deceased who hails from Zebilla in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region, was in the police custody for various charges with hefty bail conditions, which the family could not meet, hence his long stay in the police cell.
The Bawku West Police Commander, Superintendent Adam Mahama in an interview with Zebilla base Zebs FM, said the deceased was arrested by the police in connection with causing harm, causing damage, resisting arrest and was arraigned before a district court in Bolgatanga and later granted bail.
“After being granted bail, he wasn’t reporting to the police as agreed, herein jumping bail. He was rearrested with a bench warrant from the court and sent to a Circuit court with the earlier charges by which he was arrested in the first place. He (the deceased) was charged and again granted bail.
Unfortunately, the person who guaranteed for the second bail went back to the court and withdrew his surety.
The prosecutor made several efforts to reach out to the family to help in granting him bail but it proved futile.
The body of the late Sumaila Issifu has since been deposited at the Bolgatanga Hospital morgue for preservation awaiting autopsy.
FROM: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga