HIT AND RUN DRIVER ARRESTED (PAGE 29)

After two years of intensive search, the Kumasi Central Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service has succeeded in arresting a driver who knocked down a 43-year-old farmer and ran away.
The incident led to the farmer sustaining multiple degrees of injury on the head and other parts of the body, and eventually died at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) where he was rushed to for medical attention.
The suspect, Mohammed Abubarkar, was arrested at 10;30 a.m. on Monday, June 16, 2008, at the Manhyia lorry station, minutes after he had offloaded some passengers from Moshie Zongo, from where he operates.
At the Kumasi Central MTTU office where he was confronted with the offence, which he committed in October 2006, the suspect confessed and said because he failed to report the accident to the police to assist in their investigations he had not been comfortable since then.
He said the incident had also been haunting him over the years but he had not been courageous enough to present himself to the police.
Moments after the police arrested him, they also arrested the car owner, Sherif Alhassan, to assist in their investigations.
The victim was a native of Kensere, near Bekwai in the Ashanti Region, and was in Kumasi to visit some family members when he met his fate.
The Police told the Daily Graphic that the owner of the vehicle was aware that his employee had committed a crime but failed to report to the police.
The suspect, who resides at Moshie Zongo, a Kumasi suburb, and a native of Bawku, was arrested by Sergeant Michael Broni of the Central MTTU during one of his usual rounds to hunt for the suspect.
The suspect was driving the same vehicle - a 207 Mercedes Benz bus with registration number GW2709T - used in killing the pedestrian at the Kajetia traffic lights.
He told the police after his arrest that he had been using the vehicle for the past four years and rarely gave it to any other driver.
According to Sgt Broni, when the incident occurred, he had been combing the Techiman and Mampong trunk roads, where the suspect had allegedly been operating, with the view of arresting him, to assist the police in their investigations.
He said the incident occurred around 6:30 p.m. at the Kajetia — Suame traffic light, where the suspect allegedly went through a red light at a time the victim was crossing the road.
He said following the green light signal, the victim entered the road but the suspect, who had by then ignored the red light signalling him to stop, hit the victim in the middle of the road.
Sgt Broni said the suspect rushed the victim to the KATH but left him to his fate.
He said the victim died a few minutes later, but the suspect failed to report to the police, and all efforts to trace him proved futile.
In his caution statement, the suspect told the police that after knocking down the victim and realising that he was dead, he rushed home to inform the transport owner about the incident.
He said the transport owner advised him to report to the police, but fearing that he would be arrested he refused to do so.
He said after waiting for three days without being arrested by the police, he resumed his normal duties and had been operating between the Dr Mensah area to Moshie Zongo since then.
He is currently in police custody assisting in investigations.