The Wa police have arrested a 28-year-old carpenter, Ahmed Zachariah who is accused of being part of a mob who lynched a 15-year-old boy for allegedly stealing a Multi TV decoder.

Abdul Fataw Alhassan was found dead with multiple bruises all over his naked body in one of the corridors of the St. John’s Catholic cluster of schools.

A report was made to the Wa police which led to the arrest of one of the suspects. The body of the deceased has also been taken to the Wa regional hospital morgue for autopsy.

According to the Upper West Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Superintendent of Police Joy Kudzo Afagbedzi, the Wa police received a complaint from one Alhassan Osman, a resident of Dobile, a suburb of Wa about his missing son, Saturday.

On Sunday morning a group of women sighted the body of the deceased after attending a meeting at the St John Catholic School.

ASP Afagbedzi said police initial investigation found the shorts and shirt of the deceased at a compound few meters away from the school.

‘‘Evidence of struggle was also found around a hencoop with a long rope lying close by. It was also revealed that the 15-year-old went to the said compound to steal a multi TV decoder and he was arrested and beaten to death by a mob and dumped at the schools corridor,’’ he added.

28- year-old carpenter, Ahmed Zachariah was last seen with the deceased on Saturday at his house. He went into hiding upon hearing that the police had come to search his house to get clues as to who might have killed the deceased person. He was later arrested by a search party. 

But for the timely intervention of the police, the suspect would have been lynched as well.

Unable to lynch the suspect who is also an under-12 colts soccer club owner, the aggrieved mob vented their anger on the police, pelted stones at them and smashed one of the screens of their Toyota LX vehicles. They also injured two police men in the process. 

The police has condemned the act of hooliganism by residents and called on them to release suspects to the police for the law to take its course.