Four persons, including a Pastor, are in the grips of the police in Ho over their respective roles in an attempted murder of a driver.
The driver, Fred Odum, 31, who works with the Adaklu District Assembly in the Volta Region, is currently incapacitated and is fighting for survival.
victim currently urinates
He was chained to the rear of a vehicle, dragged on the ground for a considerable distance, taken for dead and dumped in the bush.
His two testicles were removed by his assailants, whilst his male organ was severely damaged, apart from other serious injuries he sustained.
The suspects are Patrick Kwame Agbesi, 39, Auto mechanic, Abraham Kwame Atidama, 30, Auto electrician, Atsu Adzasu, 24, Auto mechanic and Prophet Johnson Tagoe, 49.
Speaking to The Chronicle from his base at Adaklu Waya, the capital of Adaklu District, the driver stated that sometime last year, while on his annual leave, he used his motorbike to operate ‘okada’ business.
On Friday, August 11, 2023 as he was returning from Ho to Waya, after the day’s work, his motorbike developed a puncture of the rear tyre, at about 21:30 hours.
He pushed the motorbike to the nearest mechanic shop to get a metal to enable him to remove the punctured tyre. He succeeded in finding one and in the process, he was struck on the forehead with a cutlass by an unknown person, who stated that he (the driver) had come to steal from the shop, a claim that he instantly and vehemently denied.
Suddenly, other persons appeared with offensive weapons to beat him, as though he was a snake.
Even though he introduced himself as a responsible person and to the extent that he once benefitted from the services of that particular workshop, none of the assailants heeded to his plea.
One of the assailants called out to the master of the shop, with a report that they had finally nabbed the person who steals from the place.
The said boss in no time arrived in the company of a man, referred to as Pastor. At this juncture, he felt relieved, thinking that the presence of the master and Man of God (Pastor) would make the assailants to relax the beatings, but that did not happen. He, therefore, pleaded for him to be taken to the police station.
This rather incensed the master, who personally joined the others in the lawless act. He knelt at the feet of the Pastor to have mercy on him, and when the man of God attempted to prevail on the ‘shop boys’ to stop, the boss furiously brushed the said Pastor aside.
According to Fred, who is currently depending on the services of his junior sister, a teacher trainee from one of the Colleges of Education, he was tied to the rear of a vehicle and compelled to drink dirty engine oil.
As if that was not enough, his assailants dragged him on the tarred road from that part of Ho, Getfund to SSNIT Flats Junction, a distance of about 500 meters. After he was taken for dead, he was dumped in the nearby bush.
dragged on the asphalt road
He further stated that, he used the last strength in him to crawl to the roadside near the mechanic shop, spotted the same mechanic who first struck him with the cutlass and pleaded for water. This man then set a condition that the only way he would offer him water to drink was for him to surrender the motorbike to him.
He continued that, even though he complied with the request, the mechanic took away the bike without giving him water and taunted him to bid farewell to his ancestors.
He said some Good Samaritans later lifted him to the Ho Teaching Hospital, Trafalgar.
At the tertiary medical centre, doctors discovered that his two testicles were hanging from the scrotum, while his male organ suffered severe damage.
The medical authorities tried their best to save at least one testicle but to no avail, hence they had to surgically remove them.
He also has to battle with severe bodily injuries to the face, head, chest, hands, thighs, legs, feet and buttocks, as a result of being dragged on the tarred road.
Having gone through various forms of surgeries, he was discharged after one month, to report for further treatment from home.
Since it was not possible to always shuttle the long distance from home to the hospital, he engaged the services of a nurse who attends to him at home for seven months now, at a cost of GHc1,700 every month.
There is also the Okada fare which transported the nurse every three days at a cost of GHc25 for each trip.
Lamenting his predicament, he told The Chronicle that due to the condition he finds himself in, his fiancée abandoned him, obviously because his reproductive organs are defective.
The only hope for him now is the replacement for artificial testicles and considerable surgeries to prop up his manhood which he cannot use to pass urine.
Fred, engulfed in debts, stated that he contracted a loan of GHc2,000 from a microfinance outlet and for the past two consecutive months have defaulted payment.
According to the worried man, who cannot fetch water or cook for himself, his company once sent a police officer to arrest him. The policeman, he stated to the glory of God, rather doled out money from his pocket for him.
He used the presence of The Chronicle to appeal to His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo to personally come to his aid, as his medical bills continue to pile.
Meanwhile the Police in Ho, who are investigating the case, have retrieved the stolen motorbike which is now dismantled.
