Policeman in Lamashegu shooting incident granted GH¢10,000 bail

The Tamale Circuit Court has granted a GH¢10,000 bail with two sureties to the policeman involved in the Lamashegu shooting incident which resulted in the death of one person.

The deceased identified as Abdul Hakim, a resident of Lamashegu is said to have been hit by a stray bullet, fired by the police.

General Corporal Samson Kweku Darfour has pleaded not guilty to the charge of unlawful discharge of weapon and causing harm.

The case has been adjourned to March 23, 2022.

At Thursday’s hearing, the prosecution amended the facts presented at the first hearing.

The prosecution indicated that the accused was the leader of the team which was detailed to monitor crime along the Tamale stadium forest road.

While on duty, they saw someone driving an unregistered Toyota Camry.

Upon seeing the police team, the driver made a U-turn and sped off.

“The accused, seeing that, jumped into the police vehicle and gave the victim a hot chase to the Lamashegu chief’s palace, where he shot into the car through the backdoor. The bullet then hit and lodged in the right hip of the occupant of the vehicle.”

A bystander was also a victim of the shooting and got injured during a clash between the youth and the police.

The victim was rushed to the Tamale Teaching Hospital and was later confirmed dead.

The deceased was identified as Abdul Hakim, a resident of Lamashegu.

Lawyer for the defendant, however, argued that the facts presented were inaccurate and that, the accused acted professionally in accordance with his work and told the court to give them ample time to provide adequate facts to counter that of the prosecution.

The lawyer further pleaded with the court to grant the defendant bail while he prepared strong facts to defend his client.

Background

On February 14, six police officers were interdicted following a shooting incident at Lamashegu, a suburb of Tamale in the Northern Region that resulted in the death of one person and injury of several others.

The shooting incident occurred on Sunday, February 13, at about 1pm, and led to the subsequent attack on the Police by the youth of Lamashegu.

One person died while several others sustained various degrees of injury after some police personnel in Tamale clashed with the youth of Lamashegu.

The incident is said to have occurred after the police on their patrols allegedly stopped an unregistered vehicle but the driver refused to stop resulting in the former chasing the latter.

The driver drove to the Lamashegu chief’s palace for refuge, but was given a hot chase and shot at.

Infuriated by the incident, the youth of the community reportedly peddled stones at the police and burnt lorry tires on the streets.