we reported earlier about how a military man has killed a man in Ashaiman after an argument came between them.
According to the military report on the shooting, the man named Eric Ofotsu was into narcotics and was resisting arrest, but eye witnesses who saw what was going on said the exact opposite happened.
According to a woman who said she was family to the decease, she met the soldier who questioned her about where she was going and she told him that she was going to the washroom.
She then later saw the military man, engaged in an argument with Eric but she intervened and told the soldier that, Eric was not mentally sound and sleeps at the market doing menial jobs so he had no where to call home and go.
The military man then hit him with a stick, which Eric took from him and threw away, The soldier then got on a call with someone who instructed him to gun Eric down, he pulled his rifle and shot without hesitation.
“When I came out, I saw him (soldier) telling Ofotsu to leave the area, but Ofotsu told him (soldier) that he lives at the market,” Ofosuwaa recounted. “I told the soldier that Ofotsu was mentally challenged and he sleeps and works at the market by transporting goods and engaging in menial jobs”.
“All of us around told the soldier he (Ofotsu) had a mental problem,” she said, as she alleged that the serviceman ignored her comments.
“He cocked his gun, and we all took cover, but before we realised he had shot him (Ofotsu)”.
“I ran and held my ‘brother’, and I started calling neighbours for help,” she said in tears.
“If they said Ofotsu held on to the soldier’s gun, it is a lie. He never tried to disarm the soldier. The soldier didn’t try,” she concluded.
Another Eye witness who was at a coldstore nearby also said this.
“The soldier hit the deceased with a stick. The deceased got angry, and he collected the stick from the soldier and dropped it.
“After the initial altercation, Ofotsu and the soldier went separate ways, and the military man made a call to an unknown person. The soldier returned. But those of us around thought he wanted to hit Ofotsu again,” she recalled.
“But what we saw was that he cocked his gun. I thought he was going to give a warning shot. However, he rather pointed the rifle at the throat of the victim. He shot without hesitation,” the agitated woman said. “The bullet went through the back of his head. He (soldier) just took a tissue, picked the pellets and placed it in a polythene bag. All he said was, ‘I am sorry’”.
