Crime

Attempted suicide in Parliament: Man, 35, granted GhȻ1,000 bail

THE 35-year-old man, Kojo Mensah, who attempted suicide in Parliament on Thursday, was yesterday granted GhȻ1,000 police enquiry bail with two sureties.

The suspect is expected to report to the Ministries Police, Accra, on Monday June 17, for further investigations.

 A police source at the Ministries Police Command told the Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday.

Mensah, on Thursday attempted suicide in Parliament when he tried jumping from the public gallery to the chamber floor of the House. 

The incident happened around 1:30pm immediately the House adjourned for the day’s business as the marshals led the Second Deputy Speaker out of the House.

Wearing a New Patriotic Party embossed T-shirt with the picture of Joseph Mensah, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwesimintsim, Mensah was said to have tried on several occasions to see MP without success. 

The suspect, who the Ghanaian Times gathered had lost his father and with a responsibility to foot the medical bills of a sick mother, arrived in Parliament at about 11am to see the lawmaker. 

Mensah, a resident of the Kwesimintsim Constituency, who was disappointed for not meeting the lawmaker after several visits, decided to take his life. 

To execute his plan, Mensah, who was nursing a dislocated shoulder injury, untied the bandage supporting his shoulder, to carry out the act. 

Rooted to his seat when he was supposed to be up on his feet as the Speaker walks out of the Chamber, the 35 year-old nicodemously untied the bandage, tied it around one of the seats, extended to his neck in readiness to jump from the public gallery. 

Alarmed by his actions, security operatives of the Parliamentary Protection Unit of the Ghana Police Service, averted what would have been a disaster as they quickly whisked him away in handcuffs. 

Visibly in pain from his injuries as the police escorted him to the Parliamentary Police Post, the suspect moaned amid wailing, “I want to kill myself. Joseph Mensah, MP for Kwesimintsim, I will kill myself.” 

The Kwesimintsim MP, meanwhile, is in Switzerland on official parliamentary assignment, the Ghanaian Times has gathered. 

BY ANITA NYARKO-YIRENKYI

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