Thief beaten to death in GHANA

MPs Alarmed At Spate Of Instant Justice

By Salifu Abdul Rahaman
Thursday, 23 November 2006

THE growing incidence of mob instant justice in the country was the subject of comment by Members of Parliament (MP) at yesterday’s sitting.
This followed a statement by Alfred Agbesi (NDC – Ashaiman) expressing concern about the phenomena becoming "a great source of worry to many Ghanaians."
Mr Agbesi said in the immediate past months of August and September, a number of acts of mob action occurred in some parts of Accra, Kumasi, Cape Coast and other cities and towns.
He recalled that on August 23, a suspected thief was killed at Adabraka, Accra for allegedly stealing a mobile phone.
He said on August 28, two men who allegedly stole ¢5 million in Accra were stripped naked and beaten up mercilessly with metal rods.
"Mr Speaker, again on the same day, a 24-year-old alleged robber was flogged to death with iron rods at Pedu, Cape Coast."
"On September 10, the timely intervention of a team of policemen from Dansoman District Police Station saved the life of a suspected robber who was beaten up by a mob and taken for dead. He was later found in a pool of blood by residents of Zodiac, Dansoman," he said.

Mr Agbesi said on September 21, one Kwame Wrawra alias Daniel Dodi, alleged to be a notorious armed robber noted for bag and money snatching as well as robberies at homes and on the highways, was arrested in an operation in Tema.Dodi had his scrotum split open by an angry crowd which also poured boiled water on him.

"A resort to instant justice means a total disregard for society; total regard for each other, the rule of law, the criminal justice system and above all, the Constitution of the land," he said.
There will be total anarchy and confusion when aggrieved members of the
society take the law into their own hands and do what they consider to be just, he said.

While agreeing that crime in the society is rising everyday, Mr Agbesi said, "Those acts must be punished but they must be punished in accordance with the prescribed law."
Mr Agbesi appealed to the courts, prosecutors and all those in charge with the administration of justice to dispense justice with dispatch "for our people to have confidence and faith in the judicial system."