Members of the family Oyoko family at Atwima koforidua in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of the Ashanti Region are fuming with rage over the brutal killing of their beloved son, Yaw Akoto.

Akoto, 32. a farmer, was shot three times in the leg, stomach and head by one Kwaku Asante, now at large, at about 11:00 am on Saturday, October 24, 2009.

Wielding an eight round pump action gun, Asante, without provocation, shot and killed Akoto who was returning from the farm at the entrance of his house.

This was after the suspected murderer had stormed the deceased’s house and inflicted cutlass wounds on the occupants including an 80-year-old woman who is currently on admission at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).

Asante, who was among a fully armed 20-member gang, had earlier traced the deceased to his farm but could not find him and therefore decided to follow him up to the house.

Upon reaching the house, the gang could not locate the deceased and therefore decided to vent their anger on the innocent occupants by inflicting varying degrees of cutlass of wounds on them.

After carrying out the dastardly act, the armed men who were returning met the deceased entering the house and Asante, who was allegedly wielding an eight-round pump, shot him to death.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that after carrying out the cruel act, Asante took to his heels amid firing of gunshots in the air in a bid to scare residents who would attempt to give him a chase.

Confirming the horrible incident, Superintendent Osei, the Abuakwa, District Police commander, said the heinous killing occurred as a result of land litigation.

But the head of the Oyoko family at Atwima Kofondua, Nana Appiah Dabanka contended that the police assertion about the horrible incident was far from the truth.

In a statement released to the press and signed by him, Nana Appiah emphasized that his family was in no litigation with anybody or family over any piece of land in the town.

He noted that Asante and his gang mobilized and killed Akoto because of the role the deceased played in the capture and subsequent release of Yaw Gyamfi and Samuel aka ’Blackie’, two notorious armed robbers, to the police.

According to him, Gyamfi and Blackie, who were close associates of Asante, were notorious armed robbers being hunted by the Duayaw Nkwanta district police in the Brong Ahafo  connection with a number of armed robberies on the Kumasi-Sunyani, Mankranso-Tepa and Bonkwakye-Esase roads.

Nana Appiah stressed that when news broke that Gyamfi and Blackie were being sought by the police and that they had come to take refuge in the town, the deceased courageously organized men and hunted them down.

He disclosed that in the course of the manhunt, the deceased and his team arrested Gyamfi and Blackie and handed them over to the Abuakwa district police command who subsequently transferred them to the Duayaw Nkwanta district police.

Nana Appiah indicated that Gyamfi and Blackie had been languishing in the custody of the police since they were arrested about two months ago.

He said since the arrest of Gyamfi and Blackie, their family and close associates had  never been happy with Akoto, hence the calculated move to eliminate him.

Nana Appiah appealed to the police to dismiss the assertion that the killing was as a result of land litigation and rather investigate the issue thoroughly to uncover the truth.

He said the family was not happy about the fact that though the gang leader, one Isaac, was walking freely in the town, the police had failed to arrest him.

According to him, the Abuakwa district police command had refused to arrest Isaac with the excuse that he was not the one who shot and killed the deceased.

Nana Appiah appealed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to take personal interest in the case to ensure that the needed investigation was conducted to unravel the truth about the killing of their relative.

Source: Daily Guide

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