POLICE SAVE MAN FROM LYNCHING ... (Page 29)

Story: Moses Aklorbortu, Enyinase

BUT for the timely intervention of the police, a mob at Enyinase in the Nzema East District in the Western Region would have lynched a father who was taking his sick child to the hospital, for kidnapping.
They however succeeded in beating him, together with the chief of Enyinase, Nana Antwi V, who intervened to plead with the mob to exercise restraint and rather inform the police.
The whole of Enyinase community, particularly the youth, besieged the palace of Nana Antwi and demanded the release of the man for them to mete out instant justice.
It took the police a hectic time to rescue the accused and the chief amidst stone throwing, shouting and verbal assault on the police.
The man, Mr Kwame Asong, was mistaken for a kidnapper, when he carried his own son, Master Kojo Asong, on his shoulder to the hospital at Enyinase to access health care.
Mr Asong, who looked helpless, said he could not afford the transport fare for his son and himself from his village at Nyamebekyere to Enyinase township and therefore decided to travel by foot.
Upon reaching Enyinase township, a group of young men who claimed a small boy from the community was recently found dead in a pond suspected Asong to have kidnapped his son.
Before Asong could respond to the questions posed by the youth, they pulled his son aside and pounced on him, claiming that he was a ritual murderer.
They did not give him the chance to answer any of the questions posed to him as they subjected him to beatings and marched him to the chief’s palace.
The chief said he knew the suspect and that he was a resident of Enyinase before moving to Nyamebekyere.
This response from the chief did not go down well with the mob, who also pounced on their chief and Mr Asong and subjected them to serious beating until the police came to their rescue.
The police therefore sent for the wife of Asong, who came to identify her husband and their son and said, they were not having money to take their sick son to the hospital.
The child was however sent to the hospital by the police and the family was later taken to their home at Nyamebekyere.