The ECOWAS Community Court has ordered Ghana to pay 250 thousand dollars in compensation to the family of Augustine Chukwuebuka Ogukwe, 15, a Nigerian Student, who died in a swimming incident on October 2013, in Ghana.
The Court said the compensation is for the failure of the Ghana Police to carry out proper investigation into the death of the student, thereby failing in its obligation to protect and defend all persons within its territory.
According to a release from the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja, Nigeria, Obioma Ogukwe, father of the deceased had brought an action in which he alleged that, he was given an autopsy report issued by the Ghana Police Hospital, without his consent or knowledge, which revealed that the basic cause of death was drowning while the direct cause was asphyxia by submersion.
Led in evidence by Femi Adedeji, the plaintiff also alleged that the physical appearance, contrary to the autopsy report, showed evidence of torture on the body and the wounds on his face and sides,which he said, were evidence of beating, torture, and gruesome murder.
In the suit filed in February 2014, the plaintiff claimed that Ghana neither took steps to investigate the matter nor to set up a Coroner Inquest to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of the deceased and prosecute any person found culpable in violation of the country`s obligations under international human rights instruments.
SOURCE: GRAPHIC
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Ghana fined $250 thousand for Nigerian student’s death
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