The Upper East Regional Police Command has commenced investigations into the alleged burning to death of three persons suspected to have stolen cattle at Biu, a suburb of Navrongo.

According to the police, residents of the community apprehended the suspected thieves and set them ablaze.

The bodies of the deceased have been identified by the police as 40-year-old Peter Ayeleguni and 28-year-old Emmanuel Kofi Sewor; with the third person yet to be identified.

In an interview with Citi News, the Upper East Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP David Fianko-Okyere, urged the public to desist from lynching suspected thieves.

“The suspects have been lynched, and thereafter their bodies burnt beyond recognition. When we received that particular information, the police proceeded to the scene and obviously found these three bodies that have been burnt beyond recognition. The bodies were conveyed to the Wall Memorial Hospital in Navrongo for preservation and autopsy.”

Meanwhile, the police have also cautioned the public against such actions in the future as the law frowns on it.

“The advice from the police to the public is that under no personal circumstances should someone or a group of persons be lynched; not to talk of burning them beyond recognition.”

‘Mob justice’

Lynching suspected criminals, which has become known as ‘mob justice’ in Ghana, does not appear to go away despite the constant condemnation of such actions.

Those who commit these acts usually blame it on their mistrust in the security agencies particularly the police, to ensure that justice is served when criminals are arrested and made to go through the legal process.

Although the practice has led to the death of some innocent people who are falsely accused, it still persists in many parts of Ghana.

The killing of a military officer, Captain Maxwell Mahama, who was lynched by some community members in the Central Region over suspicions that he was an armed robber, angered the entire nation, with a statue raised in his honour to draw attention to the canker.

Nonetheless, the incident did not in any way discourage lynching, as other incidents have been recorded in different parts of the country since then.