#National News

Witness recounts killings of 8 Ghanaians

Mar 15, 2021, 10:56 AM | Article By: Pa Modou Cham

Ousainou Touray, director of Parks and Wildlife was yesterday called to testify before the TRRC on issues surrounding the killings of eight Ghanaians in July 2005 at Ghana Town. 

He recalled that in 2005, he was in Abuko but also in charge of Tanji Bird Reserve; adding that on 23 July, 2005, one of his staff, Dembo Gassama, called and informed him about an incident around the Tanji Bird Reserve.

According to him, when he went to the scene, he saw some corpses; some were shot from behind while others had bullet wounds on their necks. 

He added that some of the corpses already had blood dried on them and they decided to contact the police. 

"After the arrival of the police and the corpses counted, I went back to my office and entered it in the Police Dairy."

However, one of his staff who was to attend the meetings eventually left in limbo and was not invited to the meeting with security apparatus. 

At this juncture, an Observer publication dated 25 July, 2005 bearing the headline "8 Found Dead at Brufut." was tendered. Mr. Touray confirmed the story and it was marked for identification purposes. 

Continuing his testimony, he Dembo Gassama was warned to be quiet or conceal the information about what happened and since then he has done so. 

Did he tell you about the nationalities of these people? Yes he said majority of them were Ghanaians.

On why he [Dembo] thought he was warned by the panel not to discuss the matter, Touray said it was all because of foul play; adding that he was scared hearing that the people were just killed without committing any crime. 

We knew that the government was covering-up. 

On whether he saw anything at the Park which raises suspicion of mass grave, the witness responded in the negative.