INCREASE IN INCIDENTS OF INSTANT JUSTICE IN BONO REGION

Story By: Lawrence Yeboah Gyan

Despite an increase in police officers in several towns around the Bono Region, mob justice is progressively becoming a widespread practice and has led to the loss of several lives.

Also known as “instant justice” or “jungle justice”, the situation is also creating fear among citizens as one is not sure who could become the next victim.

The Bono Regional Police Command has received more than 10 reports of mob justice in less than four months, all of which have resulted in the victims' deaths.

The communities where these deaths have occurred include Wamanafo in the Dormaa East District, Penkwase, a suburb of Sunyani and Abesim in the Sunyani Municipality.

Other communities are Odomase in the Sunyani West Municipality, Senase and Berekum in the Berekum Municipality among others.

More than five recorded occurrences of mob justice at Senase near Berekum have been reported to the police this year alone, according to the police.

The victims were guys between the ages of 20 and 35 who were thought to be criminals.

The situation in the region has gotten very precarious as no month goes by without an alleged criminal being lynched by an angry mob.

The victims have all died in the process due to the use of offensive weapons such as stones, blocks, metals, sticks, and machetes among other weapons by the perpetrators.

In some cases, the suspected criminals were set ablaze with old car tyres, fuel and other inflammable materials.

Instant justice or mob justice is not a new concept. There have been cases in recent history where such heinous techniques have been utilized to extract the life of those suspected of committing one or more crimes.

It is clear that some communities deploy mob justice to deliver swift retribution to alleged criminals, but this is against the law.

People who engage in the act are usually community members and sometimes onlookers or passers-by who use such crude methods to protect the community from criminals.

In other parts of the country, it is not only suspected criminals who sometimes face mob justice but also people suspected to be witches, wizards, adulterers and homosexuals.

The outgoing Bono Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Augustine Kingsley Oppong, says the police command has launched an operation anti-lynching campaign to eradicate mob justice that has plagued the region.

He explained that the campaign was being used to sensitize the public to the dangers associated with this method used to punish suspected criminals.

ASP Oppong said the command was also investigating some of the cases in the region and would not relent in sending perpetrators to the court when the need arose.

Commenting on the reasons why people opt for mob justice, ASP Oppong said delays at police stations and court processes in dealing with suspected criminals were major reasons some members of the public preferred to handle criminals in their own way instead of handing them over to the police.

He added that the public used mob justice because they thought punishment given to criminals such as short jail terms and bail was too soft and did not deter criminals from committing crimes.

He said sometimes, suspected criminals struggled to overpower victims and when they shouted for help or such criminals were overpowered, they were lynched instantly.

Again, some people applied mob justice because some suspects might be armed with weapons such as guns, knives, or sticks which victims and onlookers might be afraid that the suspects might use to harm them.

ASP Oppong advised the public to call the police or hand over suspects to the police rather than taking the law into their own hands.

He also said the police presence at crime scenes or interventions would help stop people from lynching suspects and appealed to assembly members to quickly intervene in such situations.

In an interview, a 47-year-old taxi driver, Samuel Twumasi-Antwi, attributed corruption on the part of some police officers and some judges as the cause of the increase in mob justice.

“Criminals are not dealt with properly; we see them walking on the streets freely. I believe they have acquaintance with the police and when they are apprehended, they are left to go within a short time,” he alleged.

Mr. Twumasi-Antwi said with this lack of trust in the police, community members tended to take matters into their own hands to seek justice for themselves.

A retired educationist, Mr. Daniel Kofi Adjei, said the frequent mob justice in the region and the country as a whole undermined the legitimacy of the police and judicial service.

He, therefore, called on the police to increase its visibility in communities, especially areas noted to be mob justice prone in order to stop these unlawful actions.

Mr Adjei also appealed to the media to partner with government institutions including the police to school the public to stop mob justice.