Twenty-year-old Judith Yaa Kumah, who had part of her ear allegedly chopped off during an interrogation by a policeman at the Tema Community 8 station, has submitted a petition to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) seeking thorough investigations and justice.
According to her lawyer, Andrew Khartey, it is unlawful to mutilate someone’s ear simply because they resemble a member of a robbery gang captured on CCTV footage.
He further mentioned that at the time of the incident, Judith Yaa Kumah was a few months pregnant, making the treatment she received even more unjustifiable.
“And in the course of interrogations, a police officer by the name Clement Suputour, chops off the right part of her ear with a pair of metallic pliers, only because, according to him, she is connected to a certain person of police interest and also that she looked like somebody who had been captured in a CCTV footage of a robbery incident on Tema, a few weeks earlier.
“Now, you wouldn’t believe it. This young lady at the time was a few weeks pregnant, a fact which the police knew of because they had conducted a pregnancy test and had the results.
“Now, it had to take me so much effort for the police to release the medical records of her to enable us to apply to the court for the variation of her bail conditions,” he said.
In an earlier interview with Crime Check TV, the victim, Judith Yaa Kumah, recounted the events leading to the alleged assault. She stated that on February 29, she was arrested when she visited her boyfriend, who was detained at a police station. Upon her arrival, she was asked to sit in the visitors’ area for about 30 minutes before being told to join her boyfriend in the cell.
Inside the cell, she was handcuffed by CID Suputour and taken to the Tema Community 8 Police Station. There, she was interrogated in the presence of a policewoman, her daughter, and a labourer. During the interrogation, she was questioned about someone named “Survivor,” whom she claimed not to know.
Judith explained that she was unfamiliar with her boyfriend’s friends, as they often spoke in Hausa, a language she did not understand. She also mentioned that her boyfriend’s friends were not formally introduced to her.
According to Judith, the policeman handcuffed her hands behind her back and kicked her, causing her to fall from a plastic chair. He then allegedly held a perforator to her earring, demanding information about Survivor’s identity and whereabouts.
She said, “I don’t know Survivor until today; I don’t know someone who goes by that name.”
Judith Yaa Kumah recounted that CID Suputour began pressing a perforator against her ear, dragging it until a portion of her ear was nipped off.
During the incident, the policewoman who was present expressed discomfort with CID Suputour’s actions and advised him to handle the matter differently. However, CID Suputour dismissed her concerns and told her to leave the office if she was uncomfortable.
The policewoman then left the scene with her child and reported the incident to the station’s Commander. Upon seeing the blood, the Commander immediately intervened, instructing CID Suputour to follow him to his office.
After a brief discussion with the Commander, CID Suputour returned, picked up the severed ear, and took Judith to the hospital for medical attention. Once her wound was dressed, they returned to the police station.
Later that night, CID Suputour accused Judith of involvement in a robbery incident on January 30. Judith refuted the accusation, stating that she had proof on her phone that she was not in the area at the time.
Despite her protests, CID Suputour presented her with a statement and insisted that she thumbprint it. Feeling threatened, Judith complied to avoid further harm.