Wa: CID headquarters takes over investigations into killing of retired lecturer and university staff
The headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service has taken over investigations into last week's shooting to death of a retired lecturer and university staff in Wa in the Upper West Region.
A five-member team of police investigators from Accra have arrived in Wa for the investigations.
Two people died from gunshot wounds last week in what the Regional Police command described as exchanges over a land dispute.
Three others who sustained injuries are receiving treatment at the Wa Municipal Hospital.
The deceased are Stephen Mane, a 64-year-old retired lecturer of Hilla Limann Technical University and Iddris Alhassan, a 46-year-old administrative staff of the Simon Diedong Dombo University for Business and Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS ).
The injured are Haruna Umar, Hamza Hamid and Amish Umar.
One suspect, Abdul Raman Yunusah, said to have fired the shots that killed the two and injured the others has been arrested and arraigned on a charge of murder and causing harm.
He has been remanded into police custody.
Regional Police Commander’s comment
The Upper West Regional Police Commander, DCOP Peter Ndekugri giving brief facts on the incident last Thursday said there was a dispute over a parcel of land between two families, Abdul Raman Yunusah on one side and one of the deceased, Stephen Mane on the other side.
The police commander disputed some media reports that had earlier suggested that Stephen Mane had been killed by a stray bullet when he went to a fuel station to buy fuel or fix his car.
Read also: Wa: Death toll in land dispute incident now two; family challenges Police account
DCOP Ndekugri said there was a parcel of land in Wa near the Shell filling station which was under dispute between Abdul Raman Yunusah and his family on one side and Mane on the other side. He said they are both from the same extended family.
Mane’s family challenges police account
However in a statement, the family of Stephen Mane challenged the police account that Mane and the suspect Yunusah were related and were involved in a land dispute.
In a press statement the family said:
"We are baffled by the deliberate attempt of the media and Police Administration to establish some sort of familial relations between the deceased and the suspect. We find this to be extremely unfair and repugnant and would like to state the facts as follows:
1. The deceased, Mr. Stephen Langton Mane comes from Tizza in the Jirapa Municipality of the Upper West Region whilst the suspect, Alhaji Inussah Rahman comes from Kabanye in the Wa Municipal Assembly. The two do not belong to the same family or have any familial link whatsoever as both the police and some media reportage portray.
2. Prior to his unfortunate murder, Mr. Mane was not involved in any land dispute with either the suspect or any other person or family."
CID headquarters take over
It is following the family of Stephen Mane’s petition that the Inspector General of Police has directed the CID headquarters to take over the case.
In a press statement signed by the Director-General, Public Affairs, DCOP Kwesi Ofori, the police said, “The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters has taken over the investigation into circumstances leading to a shooting incident that occurred on Thursday, March 17 2022 in Wa that claimed two lives".
It said the team are also to join in investigation to the incident in an effort to bring the culprit to justice. They are to liase with the police personnel at Wa in the exercise.
The five member police mission is being led by Chief Inspector Alex Okyere.
Court remands Yunusah in custody
Meanwhile, the Wa Magistrate Court presided over by Mr Maxwell Titriku has remanded the suspect, Abdul Rahman Yunusah, a 61-year-old businessman into police custody, reports Graphic Online's Emmanuel Modey from Wa.
His plea was not taken and he is to re-appear on March 25, 2022.
Yunusah has been charged on two counts of murder and three counts of causing harm.
The Prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) John Baidoo pleaded with the court to remand the suspect to enable them do a proper investigation of the case.
Yunusah, last Thursday was alleged to have shot from a pump action gun into a group of people at close range during a confrontation in a dispute over a parcel of land in contention between two families.
When the victims were rushed to the Wa Municipal Hospital around 1pm on Thursday, one of them, a retired lecturer of the Hilla Limann Technical University, Stephen Mane was pronounced dead on arrival.
Then in the early hours of Friday, another victim Alhassan who was on admission also died from the wounds he sustained the previous day.