The Upper West Regional Police Command says it is investigating the arrest and alleged abuse of a suspected rapist at the Wa Jamiat Islamic Girls’ Senior High School on Monday.

The Public Relations Officer of the Regional Police Command, Chief Inspector Gideon Ohene Boateng, said the police are looking to bring finality to the matter after their attention was drawn to the alleged rape, the arrest of the alleged rapist, and his supposed abuse by those who detained him.

Narrating the incident, Chief Inspector Boateng said the police were, on Monday, invited by teachers of the school to arrest a supposed rape suspect.

The police, upon reaching the school, found the man with his legs bound with a rope by the teachers who had reportedly accosted the suspect at his house and dragged him to the school.

The officers took the suspect into their custody and sent him to their station.

“There was a case against a 30-year-old man that was suspected to be harassing the students of the school. So they [teachers] reported the case on the 15th of this month. The teachers called the police and when we got there [school], the teachers had gone to accost the guy at his house and had tied the guy’s legs with a rope, so the police rearrested him and took him to DOVVSU for the case to be investigated.”

“It was there that the guy, who is suspected of raping the students, also narrated that he was assaulted. There was a cut on his abdomen and he later realised that they had posted his photo on social media as an armed robber,” he added.

Chief Inspector Gideon Ohene Boateng said the Regional Commander, after being made aware of the claim, ordered an investigation to determine the veracity of the suspect’s claims.

He said the teachers were subsequently invited to the police station through their headmistress to come and assist in the investigations, and they honoured the invitation in the company of their headmistress.

“That prompted the police regional crime officer to invite the teachers of the school through the headmistress, who also politely brought the teachers to the police, and she was even present. We brought the alleged suspect of the attempted rape, who identified two of the teachers among the teachers present. We are investigating the case,” he said.

The police, however, said they cannot, as yet, probe the claim of attempted rape levelled against the suspect because they have not received any formal complaint on the matter.

“Nobody has reported a case of rape to the police for us to issue medical forms for the person to report to go to a hospital. Nothing of that sort has occurred,” he explained.

The two teachers, who were identified by the alleged rapist as his assailants, were made to write their statements and were granted self-recognisance bail.

Students protest

Chief Inspector Gideon Ohene Boateng said the evening after the release of the two teachers, many students besieged the police station, pelting the officers with stones and footwear in protest.

He said there was reasonable belief that the students were transported to the police station to stage the protest, noting that the regional crime officer invited some protesting students to his office and advised them.

“In the evening, we were there when we saw the students attack the police with stones and their footwear. We didn’t lash anybody. The crime officer invited a number of students to his office and advised them. The way and manner all of them were able to come here, they were brought to the police station and the cars were parked somewhere,” he stated.

He said no student was arrested in the process.

Meanwhile, there is some disquiet among the students and some teachers, because they believe the police should prioritise the investigation into the allegation of attempted rape rather than the alleged assault on the suspect.