The Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu, has reiterated calls for the civilian violations by the Military at Ashaiman following the death of trooper Imoro Sherrif to be investigated.

Sharing his thoughts on the murder of the soldier and the subsequent brutalities meted out to civilian residents in Ashaiman by the Military, the Madina MP in a tweet said the outcome of the Police investigations confirms the Military had no business wanting to retaliate the death of their colleague.

“The Police Statement on the murder of soldier Imoro Sherrif clearly confirms that the Military had no business carrying out their retaliatory operations following the death. The conduct and actions of the Military as seen in civilian violations ought to be investigated,” the Madina MP, who is also a lawyer tweeted.

He added that: “Such conducts have no place in a Constitutional Democracy.”

The Ghana Armed Forces had its military operation in Ashaiman on Tuesday dawn, 7 March 2023, where some residents were brutalised and some 184 suspects rounded up. The action was sanctioned by the Military High Command.

The Armed Forces, however, clarified that the operation was not to avenge the killing of a soldier, Imoro Sherrif, who was murdered in the area when he reportedly visited his parents over the weekend in the town but rather, to fish out the perpetrators of the crime.

The GAF stressed that the swoop was not targeted at innocent civilians but was an intelligence-led swoop conducted on suspected hideouts of criminals and crime-prone areas in the general area.

GAF said it, however, regrets that some innocent persons might have been caught up in the operation and consequently suffered some distress due to the location they found themselves at the time.

The Ghana Police Service, after a week of sustained intelligence-led operation, arrested six persons at different dates and various locations within Ashiaman and its environs for their suspected involvement in the murder of Imoro Sherrif.

Police said on 4th March 2023, it received information that a male adult had been found lying dead at Ashiaman Taifa in the Greater Accra Region.

A team of Police officers proceeded to the said location and confirmed the incident.

Police immediately commenced investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the victim. The officers cordoned off the scene and called in the specialist Police Crime Scene team to process the scene for forensic analysis.

The Crime Scene Team retrieved a number of items, including a knife with blood stains on it and a backpack. In the backpack, Police found 1 Samsung tablet, 1 Apple laptop, 1 military uniform with the name tag “Imoro”, eight other items of clothing, as well as a Ghana card and a Health Insurance card bearing the name Imoro Sherrif.

After almost a week of intelligence-led operations, on 9th March, 2023 the police arrested suspects Safianu Musah alias Dayorgu and Ibrahim Abdul Rakib at their hideouts in Ashaiman. Two other suspects, Samuel Tetteh alias Wiper and Abubakar Sadick alias Birdman were also arrested at their hideouts on 10th March, 2023. Two additional suspects, Yussif Mohammed and Abdul Gafaru Abdul Karim were arrested on 11th and 12th March, 2023 respectively.

Further investigation has established that suspects Samuel Tetteh and Abubakar Sadick at about 1:45am on 4th March 2023 attacked the deceased at Taifa Ashiaman in an attempt to rob him of his phone and a backpack.

The deceased, however, resisted and struggled with the suspects. During the struggle, suspect Samuel Tetteh pulled out a knife and stabbed the deceased in the arm, snatched his phone and bolted leaving the deceased with the knife stuck in his arm.

A postmortem examination was performed on the deceased's body on 8th March, 2023, after which the pathologist gave the verbal cause of death as exsanguination and laceration of major vessels of left arm consistent with stabbed injury.

Investigations also revealed that suspects Samuel Tetteh and Abubakar Sadick sold the phone which they had robbed from the deceased to suspect Ibrahim Abdul Rakib who later sold it to suspect Safianu Musah. Suspect Safianu Musah is being evasive as to the whereabouts of the phone and claims to have sold it to suspect Yussif Mohammed and later to suspect Abdul Gafaru Abdul Karim. Both suspects were arrested and are assisting the investigation to recover the phone.

Meanwhile, the six persons who were arrested by the Police for their alleged involvement in the murder of Trooper, Imoro Sherrif, at Ashaiman have been arraigned at the Ashaiman District Court.

In court on Monday, 13 March 2023, lawyer for four out of the six accused, prayed the court to grant his clients bail.

According to the lawyer for the four accused, his clients could not be linked to the alleged killing of the soldier and the robbery.

The Prosecution was, however, opposed to the bail application by the defendants indicating that the four, had no permanent place of residence.

The court refused the accused bail and remanded them together with the other two accused, into Police custody.

They are expected to reappear before the court on Monday, 27 March 2023.