Keta Boils Over Death of Landlord In Police Custody 

Tension is escalating in Keta in the Volta Region, between the youth and the police, over the mysterious death of a 45-year-old landlord, Jerry Kpesenu, whiles in police custody.

The deceased, who was said to be forcibly arrested in his house and sent to the Keta Divisional Police Command on Thursday, June 6, 2024, was pronounced dead after spending few hours in the cell.

Both the deceased’s family and the youth at a press conference yesterday, believe Kpesenu, affectionately called ‘Maya’ was killed by the police, due to torture, while he was in their custody and therefore, want justice.

“We believe our brother Jerry Kpesenu was manhandled and murdered by the Police and we call for justice without delay,” they demanded.

According to the angry youth, Maya was hale and hearty prior to his arrest, but was “brutally assaulted in his own resident by known unethical men in uniform from the Keta Police Division for allegedly refusing to comply with the illegal demand, while he was taking coconut under a tree in his residence, possibly his last meal before he was ‘murdered’ in police custody in Keta”.

They argued that, had the police invited the deceased to the police station in a professional manner, he would still be alive, instead of the brute force used to arrest him.

Reports indicate that, the deceased on the day of the incident, stopped a tenant in his house from fixing an air conditioner in his rented room, insisting the tenant needed his permission to do so.

This, did not go down well with the tenant, leading to heated exchanges between them and the tenant subsequently reported the matter to the police.

Later, two policemen, one in uniform and the other in mufti, turned up in his house and started beating him, before dragging him to the Keta Divisional Police Command, where he reportedly died, due to alleged brutality meted out to him.

But spokesperson of the youth group, Forceman Doe William, addressing the press, said “Our immediate demand is that we are calling on the IGP to immediately as a matter of emergency interdict, I repeat and I quote, interdict the officers”.

They also called on the IGP, to as a matter of urgency, “Set up a five-member committee to include an appointed member from the deceased’s family and another from the Keta youth, and we request an independent autopsy in a highly professional pathology centre in Ghana at the cost to the police”.

Meanwhile, state-owned Daily Graphic newspaper, reports that a team of senior police officers from the National Police Headquarters, Accra, and the Regional Police Headquarters in Ho, had been dispatched to Keta as part of the investigation into the unfortunate death of Jerry Kpesenu.

Source: Anchorghana.com