A man believed to be in his late
thirties was lynched at
Ashaiman New Town yesterday
after he attempted to rob an
MTN sales point at gunpoint.
He was in the company of two
others during the robbery
operation but he was not lucky,
as he was grabbed by an angry
mob and subsequently beaten
and set on fire.
The robber, who gave his name
as Romeo, claimed to be a
resident of Kasoa Barrier in the
Central Region.
A Nigerian gang member who
resides at Ashaiman Tulaku
barrier, according to the
deceased, gave information
about the sales point.
ON FIRE! The suspected robber,
Romeo
A security man, sales personnel
and a customer were held
hostage by the robbers at the
sales point, which had recently
experienced two separate
robberies, with the robbers
taking away thousands of
Ghana Cedis.
The robbers demanded money
and other valuables, while one
waited in a blue-black Toyota
Corolla saloon car in front of
the sales point, after they had
entered the place at about
8:30am under the pretext of
transacting business.
Linda Asamoah, a sales
attendant, was in the inner
chamber of the sales point
which had been divided into
two with glass. This prevented
the robbers from entering where
the money was being kept.
Linda made a quick phone call
to a friend nearby who
promptly raised the alarm
which attracted the crowd.
The driver of the get-away car,
sensing danger, drove off,
leaving his colleagues in the
office block, upon hearing the
alarm. However, one of the
robbers managed to jump on
top of the bonnet of the vehicle
and fled with the driver.
While escaping, the driver fired
shots, with a bullet hitting a
glass door of another shop,
Maranatha Photo and
Barbering Salon, near the
scene.
Luck however eluded Romeo,
who was not able to catch up
quickly with the vehicle, as he
was pursued by the mob after
he took to his heels from the
sales point until he was
apprehended.
Petrol Blaze
He was subjected to severe
beatings with clubs, metals,
golf bats and cement blocks
among other implements before
finally being set ablaze and left
to burn in the middle of the
street. Romeo, however,
managed to roll over his body
until the fire went out while
bleeding profusely, mostly from
his head.
The incident attracted hundreds
of persons who thronged the
scene to either unleash their
anger on the suspect or catch a
glimpse of the deceased after
he was killed.
Linda Asamoah, the sales girl,
narrated to DAILY GUIDE: “I
was at the office when one
robber came that he wanted to
receive mobile money transfer
and I told him the network was
down so he should go and
return later.”
According to her, another
armed robber came to join his
colleague, pulled out a pistol
and quickly demanded money
and other items.
On his part, Romeo jumped
over the counter after they had
locked themselves in one of the
glass apartments.
She further narrated: “It was
when he was trying to open the
glass door to where we kept the
money that I called a friend
who shouted ‘thief, thief’ before
the area boys came around.”
Assistant Superintendent of
Police (ASP) Emmanuel Tetteh
Yarkah confirmed the incident
to us, and added that the police
arrived to find the lifeless body
of the suspected robber in a
pool of blood.
According to him, the corpse
had been conveyed to the
Police Hospital morgue in Accra
for possible identification,
further investigations and
autopsy.
He noted that upon preliminary
investigations, the police
retrieved a pistol and live
ammunition in a bag which was
abandoned on the street by the
deceased while he was running
away from the fuming mob.
Ashaiman Newtown and its
environs are under frequent
siege by armed robbers, putting
the area youth under constant
alert.
