60-YEAR-OLD MAN DIES IN POLICE CELL (PAGE 28, MARCH 29, 2010)

A 60-year-old man, Alfred Chukuma, who was in custody at the Community 22 Police cells on an alleged charge of defilement is reported dead.
The deceased died at dawn on Tuesday.
Chukuma, who was arrested for defiling an 11– year–old girl at Mexico, a suburb of Ashaiman, is said to have fallen ill in the cell for about two weeks following excessive heat in the cell.
The deceased, according to the source, was arrested on February 15 and put before the Ashaiman Circuit Court.
Reports, however, suggest he might have died out of suffocation owing to poor ventilation in the cells, which has seen other inmates developing skin diseases.
The Divisional Co-ordinator of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Christine Yevunoo, who confirmed the incident to the Daily Graphic, said the deceased was remanded in police custody on the March 1 and was scheduled to make a second appearance on March 22.
She, however, ruled out rumours suggesting suffocation as a result of congestion, saying “the Community 22 cell is one of the properly ventilated cells in the region”.
“The deceased was very healthy and did not show any sign of sickness until that dawn when the counter officer on duty at the station informed the station officer of complaints by other inmates that Chukuma was behaving strangely,” she said.
According to ASP Yevunoo, the station officer immediately moved out to arrange a taxi to enable them to send the deceased to hospital when he later went into unconsciousness minutes after he was brought out of the cell to the back of the counter.
“He, however, gave up the ghost when the station officer returned with the taxi meant to convey him to the Tema General Hospital for treatment,” she said.
The body has since been deposited at the police hospital mortuary pending autopsy.
The closure of the Ashaiman Police cell for renovation and expansion has seen about 32 inmates being transferred to the community 22 cell and others sent to Nsawam amidst protests from the inmates, who resisted their transfer by smearing themselves with human excreta.