Mother Appeals To Mills Over Murdered Son

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday February 4, 2011.
The mother of a 36-year-old man, who according to a police statement, was gunned down by Abraham Kotei Neequaye, who is said to be the chairman of the Ghana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA), has made a passionate appeal to President Mills to order the police to re-open the case.

According to Madam Mary Tawiah Lokko, mother of the deceased, George Nii Aryitey Tetteh, she suspects that the police did not take the investigations seriously which led to the acquittal of the accused person (Neequaye) by the court.

Narrating her ordeal to DAILY GUIDE in Accra amid tears yesterday, Madam Lokko, 65, said she was at home on August 7, 2010 when at about 11 am, Neequaye personally called her on a cell phone telling her that he (Neequaye) gave the deceased bullets but was critically injured and rushed to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

She said it was later established that her son died several hours after the incident and that the body had been prepared for the mortuary before Neequaye called her on the phone.

She said initially Neequaye was arraigned before the Adjabeng District Magistrate Court to face charges of murder but his counsel Nii Okaidja Adamafio pleaded for manslaughter for Neequaye saying “ever since the trial started the accused person and members of his family have threatened our lives. They even went to the extent of saying that the accused is wealthy and as such, they would use his wealth and social influence to secure non-guilty verdict for him.”

“After the threats, the case was unusually adjourned but we kept our faith in the system and waited patiently for the outcome. We later heard that the case was being sent to High Court for trial to commence.”

Madam Lokko said after sometime Neequaye was discharged by the Magistrate Court because the police said it could not have witnesses, adding that the police never contacted members of the family of the deceased who could have provided an insight into the matter.

She said the police substituted the charge sheet and preferred a lesser charge of “shooting without lawful authority” against Neequaye to their amazement.

“The most painful aspect of it is that the accused has since his release, never shown any form of remorse but rather throws parties and celebrates while my family and I continue to mourn and also receive taunts on daily basis.”

She said there were people around when the incident occurred but the accused and his people allegedly scared away all possible witnesses and the police know it.

Madam Lokko also said immediately the gun was fired, the Neequaye ordered that the weapon be taken away from the crime scene and also warned on-lookers not spread the news about the death, noting, “The person who was asked to take the gun away is still around and could have been used by the police to build the case.”

She accused the police of conducting one-sided investigations into the matter because there were what she termed “material witnesses that the police never contacted.”

She alleged that two days after the incident, boxing legend Azumah Nelson came to her family house, pleading for forgiveness for Neequaye and said the incident was a “mistake.”

She claimed that it was not the first time that Neequaye had been directly involved in the murder of people, explaining that “his own wife died under mysterious circumstances not too long ago and because her family is poor they could not pursue the matter and left everything to Almighty God”.

The deceased mother said two weeks before the incident she got to know that there was animosity between her son and Neequaye even though they were friends and also added that Neequaye rushed her son to the hospital without the consent of any family member and went ahead to prepare the body for mortuary before informing the family.

“He called to tell me that my son was in critical condition when he had already prepared him for mortuary yet the police ignored all this and other compelling and vital evidence.”

She said since the incident happened, the accused had made contradictory statements but the police failed to act and also claimed that the crime scene was cleared before the police came around.

“My son has left me with an eight-year-old daughter. I have no one to look up to except God and President Mills. Please come to my aid so that this case re-opens for us to know the circumstances that led to the death of my son.”