It has come to light that Simon Yindoog who was shot and killed by the officers of the Ghana Police Service and tagged as an armed robber was innocent of the crimes he was associated with that led to his shooting. This is after an investigation was carried out by the Ghana Police Service in the Upper East Region.
The department, having admitted their faults, are to compensate the family of the young man with a sum of Ghc 150,000.00.
The 34-year-old was shot in December 2021 in the Kpatia community by some police officers for his alleged involvement in the killing of two police officers in Zuarungu, Bolga-East District.
It could be recalled that in December 2021 two police officers with the Zuarungu District Police Command were murdered by armed robbers in an ongoing robbery at the Zuarungu Market.
The incident later led the police to organise a search within the area and its adjoining communities where Simon Yindoog was alleged to be a member of the said robbers and was shot instantly by the police operation team.
But after two years of investigation by the police, the department however established that he (Simon Yindoog) was neither a robber hence he was mistakenly shot and killed by the operation team at the time.
The police department aside from compensating the family with GHc150,000.00 has also pledged to bear the cost of performing the funeral.
But the compensation, the family and some community members said was woefully inadequate hence demand justice for their late son (Simon Yindoog).
According to the deceased brother, Moses Nawaak, they as a family want the said officer who shot their brother to be punished for his unprofessional conduct as well as a lifetime compensation package for the deceased children and wives.
“My brother has 3 wives and 8 children who will now cater for them. So, we want a lifetime compensation package for them. Also, we want the said officer to be sacked from work, if not he may repeat such an act somewhere.”
He also added that the police after agreeing to bear funeral bills, however, have failed to pay any of such nor formally apologize to the family for their unprofessional act.
A community member, Augustine Guure also noted that the failure of the police to even come to the burial service of the deceased signified that they (the police) were never ready to admit their mistake.
“Since yesterday and today, have you seen any policeman here, no, so what shows that they admit their mistake?”
He stressed that “We heard how they compensated for a similar incident in Tamale, the amount that was paid to such victims can divide this amount four times though they (victims) were not killed like our own here, but look at what they gave peanut. What is GHc150,000.00? Just look at the children, 8 of them, wives, 3 of them, and then, brothers and sisters. Who will now be catering to them? So, we expect justice for Simon.”
Meanwhile, the family and community members demand that the police take down the pictures and videos of Simon Yindoog on their platforms to claim that he was part of the robbers who killed their two officers.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Moses Apiah|Ghana
