Police arrest 17 for assaulting Kotobabi teachers
The Nima Divisional Police Command has arrested 17 suspects over their alleged involvement in the attack on some teachers at the St. John’s Primary School, at Accra New Town.
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Those arrested comprised two women and 15 men who are between the ages of 20 and 45.
Four others whose names were given only as Razak alias Eto, Hamza, Suicide and Cowbell are on the run and being hunted by the police.
Two of them are said to have escaped to Libya, while the other two have vacated their homes.
The attack which led to an indefinite closure of the school on Tuesday June 6, 2016 was allegedly caused by a 15 year-old class five pupil.
The girl was said to have called in thugs after she had refused to obey the instruction of one of her teachers who wanted to discipline her for misconduct.
She was said to have misbehaved during a reading lesson because she was unable to pronounce the word ‘entertainment’ when her teacher asked her to read a section of a textbook.
She was said to have snubbed her teacher and refused to kneel down when the teacher asked her to do so as her punishment.
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Rather, she allegedly walked out of the class only to bring in thugs 20 minutes later.
The thugs attacked the teachers and pupils with broken bottles, knives, canes and other weapons. A video of the incident was published on social media.
Following the attack, a number of the teachers and pupils were injured in the process and some of them were taken to the police hospital for medical attention.
Some personal effects of the teachers, including mobile phones, laptops, tables and money, were reportedly stolen in the process.
Identification parade
Eight of the attacked teachers and three officials of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) have since been invited by the police to assist in identifying six of the suspected thugs.
During the identification parade, the teachers had their heads covered with red hooded-like covering with an opening for only their eyes.
While the arrested persons took turns to be interrogated by a team of investigators headed by the Nima Divisional Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Mr Nuhu Jango, the teachers observed them and later identified them.
At the end of the exercise, Mr Jango told journalists that those arrested were suspected to have been involved in the attack on the teachers in diverse ways.
He said following the interrogation and with the help of a video footage on the attack on the teachers, the police have obtained the names of four men who were directly involved in the attack.
The statements of the 17 persons have since been taken and Mr Jango said those found culpable would be put before court.
