POLICE BEGS ABUSED WOMAN, SON

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu
Tuesday, March 25, 2014

The Ghana Police Service has taken a U-turn on the action against a Ghanaian woman based in Italy who was paraded in the media by the Ghana Police Service as a human trafficker, after she had resorted to the court of law for redress.

Madam Victoria Afful’s home in New Aplaku, near Weija Accra was raided by fully armed policemen at dawn on September 14, 2013 and her only son, Frederick Kwabena Osei, who was taking care of the house, was detained by the Anti Human Trafficking Unit of the service for several days.

Media Parade

The day following the arrest and detention of her son, she was published in various media including television and newspapers on the orders of the Anti Human Trafficking Unit that she was trafficking people particularly Nigerian girls to Europe and America for prostitution.

The incident also formed the basis for a documentary which was shown on Metro TV for several days in which many experts on trafficking including Mrs. Patience Quaye, Head of Anti Human Trafficking Unit all made damaging remarks about the plaintiffs.

Extortion

After ransacking her residence and seizing valuable property including two vehicles, two police officers who were investigating the case extorted GH¢4,200 from the victim.

The police even use pepper spray in the residence because they did not believe that Madam Afful had indeed travelled to Italy.

Police U-turn

Just as a suit she filed at an Accra High Court (Human Rights Division) enforcing her fundamental human rights was to be moved on Thursday, the police wrote to her through her lawyers, asking her to come for her cars.

A letter titled: “Re- Petition against raid on house, seizure of vehicles, extortion of money and notice to Attorney General” signed on March 19, 2014 by Commissioner of Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Prosper K. Agblor directed Madam Afful to the Police Headquarters for the release of her items.

“We refer to your letter dated November 8, 2013 concerning the above subject matter and wish to inform you that discreet investigation has been conducted into the matter and some of the concerns raised by your client were found to be credible.”

“Consequently, the two police officers involved have been interdicted and service enquiry ordered into their conduct,” the CID Commissioner said.

In addition, the Commander of Anti-Human Trafficking Unit has been instructed to release the two vehicles and other items seized during the police operation to your client.”

The CID Boss then asked Madam Afful to report to one DSP Joseph Oppong at the CID Headquarters for the release of the items to her.

The Suit

In the substantive suit, Madam Afful and her son Osei are suing the Director-General of Ghana Police Service together with the Attorney General for abuse of their rights by the police.

While Madam Afful is demanding compensation of GH¢ 200,000, her son wants GH¢ 100,000 from the defendants for depriving them of the use of her two cars since September 14, 2013 without any lawful order from a court of competent jurisdiction.

The plaintiffs want an order directed at the respondents to pay to them a total of GH¢4,200 with interest being money extorted from them by the CID men whose names were given as Joseph Naab and Emmanuel Gyamfi Yeboah.

They want a further order directed at the defendants to release $2,900, 5,150 Euros and GH¢9,000 with interests which they are claiming were stolen by the police during the raid.

The plaintiffs again want an order directed at the defendants to pay the cost of repairing/replacing the plaintiff’s door and other items the police destroyed in the course of the raid as well as all other electronic gadgets including mobile phones and laptops that were seized.

Finally, Madam Afful wants the court to order the respondents to pay for the cost of her hotel accommodation from September 23, 2013 to October 2, 2013 at $150 per day after the police prevented her from entering her house upon her arrival from Italy.

Issues

In her statement of claim Madam Afful said she had travelled to Italy when on Saturday, September 14, she receive a telephone call from Ghana that the police had surrounded her residence and were ransacking the place.

She said after enquiries, she returned to Ghana on September 23, 2013 only to find her residence locked up by the police without any justification and had to spend more than one week in a hotel.

The plaintiffs are claiming that the police did not have any court order to detain/and or preserve the cars, mobile phones, lap tops and other items including land documents, photographs and also did not have any order when they locked up the house.

The plaintiffs again averred that the police did not have any excuse when they opened the safe locker of Madam Afful which contained money in different denominations and currencies, and stole the monies and the police did not take inventory of the seized items.