Information reaching DAILY GUIDE indicates that while playing soccer last Wednesday, Ibrahim Sima was about to score a goal when he had a head on collision with the goalkeeper.
After the incident the deceased was said to have gone to the block to have a shower, shortly after which while in bed he began experiencing pains, complaining to colleague inmates that his ribs were hurting. The inmates said he had complained that the goalkeeper hit his ribs with his elbow when he was on the verge of netting in the football. He started vomiting blood, raising alarm among the inmates.
Prison Infirmary
His colleagues called the warders who took him to the prison infirmary for first aid. The treatment not yielding results, he was taken to the Nsawam Government Hospital where the X-Ray machine was faulty, even as his condition deteriorated. He was then rushed to the Police Hospital where he died Thursday night. Sima was arrested on 7th September, 2009 after his luggage showed tubers of yam stuffed with narcotic substances which tested for cocaine and destined for Germany.
He was subsequently jailed on a date his counsel, James Agalga, now Deputy Interior Minister, and relatives who turned up at the court, did not expect judgment to be delivered.
Prison’s Version
The Chief Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Prison Service, DSP Vitallis Aiyia, confirmed that the deceased, a Togolese of Ghanaian extraction, was playing soccer at the prison when he collided with the goalkeeper, a colleague inmate. At the time of filing this report, a post-mortem was yet to be performed to establish the cause of death. Relatives and friends of the deceased from the Islamic faith, who were looking forward to having his remains released to them for interment in conformity with Islamic norms, were disappointed when their hopes were dashed. Newsmen witnessed verbal exchanges between the morgue authorities of the Police Hospital and a young man identified as Sima’s son, concerning the release of the body. “The boy insisted that the body be released to them for immediate burial, but the mortuary attendant says until both the police and the coroner have issued their reports, the remains of the model cannot be released to them,” a source told this paper.
The release of inmates when death occurs is procedural beginning with a request to the Prisons authorities who would then contact the Interior Ministry for the green-light. The interment of inmates lies in the bosom of the Prisons authorities who have clergies for both Islam and Christianity.
Justice Charles Quist He was 39 at the time of his conviction in 2009. Ibrahim Sima is Kotokoli, an ethnic grouping of Northern Togo and holds German citizenship.
Justice Charles Quist was convinced beyond reasonable doubt based on evidence adduced by prosecution that the then suspect sought to throw dust into the eyes of the court and convicted him accordingly. Ibrahim had told the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) operatives that the tubers of yam were given to him by a certain Salifu, a resident of Nima, for delivery to someone in Germany for a fee. His arrest and conviction made screaming headlines, given his stature in the modeling industry in the country – even as he contested the charges preferred against him.
Counsel Agalga James Agalga, his counsel, was downcast following the rejection of his plea to Justice Charles Quist for a lenient treatment of his client who he said was a first offender and a role model to many in Ghana and abroad.
The late Ibrahim Sima, who until his imprisonment lived at Community 10 in Tema, did not begin his jail term without accusing law enforcement agents of stealing his perfumes, watches and sun glasses when they went to conduct a search of his residence. Telltale items such as a knife and glue allegedly said to have been used in preparing the tubers of yam to carry the narcotic stuff were recovered by the law enforcement agents, but he claimed that the glue was used to mend his belt. News about his death was yesterday received with melancholy among especially the youth in Zongo communities – confirmation which some of them received through the Prisons Imam, DSP Imam Mukhtar
Source: Daily Guide/Ghana
No comments:
Post a Comment