Taxi Driver Brutally Murdered

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday February 17, 2010
A taxi driver believed to be in his early thirties has been brutally murdered and dumped at La, a suburb of Accra.

The body of the deceased, whose name was later given as Yaw Kodee, a native of Akyem Ofoase in the Eastern Region was found in the taxi cab with registration GR 6081–09 at a spot called Alontey bar bus stop on the Accra Teshie/Nungua beach road, about 150 meters from the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel.

When the Daily Guide visited the scene at about 1pm yesterday, a sizeable crowd some weeping had gathered whilst the La police were already there making preparations to convey the body to the morgue.

The deceased who wore a yellow vest and coffee colour trousers with black trainers appeared to have been strangled and there was blood in both his mouth and nostrils.

His face looked swollen and there were also deep cuts on his eyebrow and the left hand.

Everything in the taxi was intact except the key which was missing.

Eyewitness account had it that the cab Kia Avella – yellow and white, had been stationed close to the sea since 4am with the parking lights on. At that point in time they were afraid of getting closer to the vehicle.

They said they finally got closer to know what was happening only to find the deceased placed in between the front seat and back seats of the cab. The police was later informed about the death which they suspected that the deceased might have been a victim of armed robbers.

Just as the police were about to convey the body, a similar taxi cab rushed to the scene and the occupants claimed the deceased was their relative.

One of them, John Mensah who shed tears said they received a phone call from a member of the crowd informing them about the death of Kodee.

He said the owner of the car works at the Abossey Okai spare parts area and had given the taxi to them to make daily sale for him.

Mensah who is the actual driver of the cab, further said that Kodee asked for permission to use the taxi to work on Monday night adding “once he did not return on Tuesday morning we thought he had continued to work in the morning.”

The deceased is married with a little son.