I was nearly lynched for 'indecent' dressing - Tenge

Europa

June 2, 2017 4:23 PM

Her comments come on the back of the debate on mob justice which has re-emerged following the death of an Army Captain in Denkyira-Obuasi on Monday, 29 May 2017.

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The Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, ASP Effia Tenge, has revealed that she was nearly lynched by a mob in the Northern regional capital, Tamale.

Narrating her ordeal, Ms Tenge told Accra-based Class FM that: “I, personally, almost became a victim of that. And even if we are able to get one or two persons among the mob to stand on their ground to prevent the person from being beaten or being abused in the manner it is done, it will help us.”

READ ALSO: Capt. Mahama's Death

“In my case, it happened in Tamale. Luckily for me, I had one person who just quickly ran after us and said: ‘Madam, these people are following you because of the type of dress you are wearing. The man quickly stopped a taxi, pushed me inside and told the taxi driver in their local dialect to quickly speed off and quickly that was how I was able to escape death. …We [Police] had gone on training, we had arrived late in the evening, so, I just took something and wore and hit the street just to get something to eat and before I could realise, a whole mob was amassing clubs and whatever to come and lynch me because I had worn something that was abominable on their land. So, if it had not taken that man to know what they were doing and quickly come to my rescue, it would have been a different story.”

ASP Tenge used the opportunity to advise Ghanaians against prescribing instant justice when suspected criminals are caught as the practice is unconstitutional.

“Why do people think that they have the right to prescribe or dispatch punishment? Even we (police officers) can’t prescribe punishment; it’s not our duty to do so. Judicial powers do not lie in our hands, and, therefore, if we arrest anybody on the basis of suspicion of having committed a crime, we process the person to the law court and that is procedural. That is the criminal justice system,” she said.

Europa