Mob kills police officer in Ghana’s Savannah Region; three arrested

Ghana Police say they have arrested 36 people after a mob lynched a police officer following the death of a motorbike rider the officer’s patrol team had been trying to help.

According to a police statement, General Constable Redeemer Owusu was killed on September 16 when residents of Gindabour, a community in the Sawla District of the Savannah Region, attacked his patrol team after learning that a local rider had died.

Police account of events: The statement says Owusu and colleagues were on highway patrol along the Gindabour–Kenkyen road when a motorbike rider approaching their position turned off into the bush. The officers grew suspicious and followed a different route, where they found the man unconscious. They were taking him to hospital when he died en route, police said.

News of the rider’s death prompted a crowd from the community to attack the officers, according to police. Owusu was killed; other officers were injured to varying degrees, and the police vehicle was damaged.

Both the officer’s body and the rider’s body have been taken to Damongo Morgue for preservation and autopsy, police said.

The Inspector-General of Police has deployed investigators and intelligence officers to the area, and reinforcement units from Damongo, Bole, Sawla, Tuna and Kalba, along with the Regional Intelligence Team, have been sent in to reinforce security, according to the statement.

All 36 suspects are in custody and will be arraigned, police said. The Police Service “highly condemns” the attack and has vowed prosecution “to the full rigours of the law” — language indicating intent to pursue charges, though no suspect has yet been named or formally charged.

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