Below is Angela Attachie, a  Circuit Court Judge at Adenta Court Complex in the Greater Region account of the incident that led to the Inspector General of Police(IGP) reportedly ordering the detention of 4 police officers for arresting a Judge for a traffic offence.  

7th April 2025.

The Director CID, Ghana Police Service, Accra. Dear Madam,

PETITION TO INVESTIGATE A CASE OF ASSAULT AND HARASSMENT LODGED WITH THE ADENTA DIVISIONAL COMMAND

Respectfully I pray this letter meets you in good health. I am Her Honour Angela Attachie, Circuit Court Judge in charge of Adenta Court I.

I am also a Queen Mother from the Asogli State in the Volta Region.

This letter is to formally inform your office of the unfortunate incident that occurred between four of your officers and I on my way to work at the Adenta Court complex.

I live at Oyibi and work at Adenta Court Complex. On my way to work on that faithful day, I got to the road just before the Rowi Junction, which leads to my Court.

I however, do not use that route as there is a shorter turn just before the Rowi Junction.

About 100 meters or less to the turn, I branched onto the other side of the newly constructed road to enable me branch at the said junction since there was a heavy traffic on that stretch of the road that morning.

Just before branching I saw the police vehicle parked on the newly constructed road. Just when I got to them they signaled that I stop and I complied.

They then told me I was under arrest. I asked for what.

They stated I should have remained in the traffic until I reached the exact turn before getting off the main road.

I told them that was impossible giving the heavy nature of the traffic and the fact that the road was clear and I was just branching. They insisted they were arresting me.

At that point I showed them my court which was right behind them and that I was the judge in charge of the court.

I also stated I had done nothing wrong to warrant their arrest.

They maintained their position so I drove off. They entered their vehicle and followed me to the front of my court. I was driving at a slow pace due to the dusty nature of the road in front of my court.

This enabled the driver to cross my car to prevent me from going further to access my court premises.

One of the officers got down and took some car tyres packed by the route to block the front of my car and another used some blocks to block the back tyres as well.

I then called the security from mu Court to help my carry my items. When they arrived, they greeted me and referred to me as my Lady.

The onlookers approached the police men and told them not to treat me that w\ay since I was a judge. But they would not listen to any advice.

I left the car and had to walk in the full glare of the onlookers who had at this time gathered to see what was happening. Upon reaching my office, I asked my clerk to go down and take a photo of the vehicle for me to enable me lodge a complaint.

This was necessary because I did not know the officer and I knew that without specifics, no one was going to give out their names.

When my clerk got there, they became offended that he took pictures of them and the car.

They arrested him and beat him up on his eye, stomach and thigh and then took him to the Adenta Police station.

Indeed he was detained at the station from around 8 am when he was taken to about 5 pm before he was released.

The officers further towed my official vehicle away from the court complex to the Adenta Divisional police Station.

It had to take the commander to have the vehicle sent back to me.

Through the help of the Adenta Divisional Commander, I found out the four police men are part of the special task force set by the then IGP, George Akuffo Dampare. As such they had no control over them.

The police team that caused all these was led by Godwin Dey.

The names of the other members of the team are with the Adenta Divisional Commander.

An investigator was assigned to the case.

He has been to my office to take my statement and I took him to the scene of incident.

It has been three (3) months and counting since the incident but I had heard nothing from the Adenta Divisional Command.

I am therefore humbly writing to your office to investigate this issue and bring the offenders to justice.

We are all officers of the law.

While I may not be above the law, the nature of my work requires some protection from the police.

However, I have constantly been harassed and disrespected by members of this same office who are to protect me for no reason at all.

I do not know if it is because I am a woman or it’s because I am a young woman which compels them to act in such way towards me.

If police officers can do this to a judge for no reason at all, we can only imagine what the ordinary Ghanaians whom we swore to protect are going through in the hands of some of these officers.

I am available for any further questioning or action in furtherance of this case MTN Number......

Counting on your Cooperation.

Thank you.

Angela Attachie Circuit Court Judge Adenta Court Complex Adenta.

This is also the said article: In what appears to be a return to the days of road indiscipline and untouchable individuals, the Inspector General of Police, Mr Tetteh Yohunu has reportedly ordered the arrest and detention of four police officers for daring to arrest a judge for a road traffic incident.

The officers, Inspector Godwin Dey, Inspector Francis Adjei, Sergeant Daasebre Oti Boateng and Corporal Jonah Adjubulisah, during a routine road discipline duty, arrested the vehicle of Her /Honour, Mrs Angela Attachi, in December 2024 but dropped the case after the Adenta Police Commander intervened. 

The officers were, however, called from the Police headquarters last week to report to the CID headquarters to write their statement for the arrest of the Judge’s vehicle.

In what appears like a power play, the officers have been detained after their statements were taken. 

“When we tried to stop her after the careless driving, she refused to stop and drove off, so we followed the car until she was blocked by another vehicle along the line.

She then parked the car in the middle of the road and left in another vehicle.

Later, when we went to the Adenta Police station to press charges, the commander and other senior officers intervened because of her position and the matter was dropped,” one of the officers narrated on condition of anonymity. 

He said they have been told that only the Inspector-General of Police can order their release since the order for their detention came from the top.