Posted:The Chronicle / Friday, April 07, 2009
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The suit has been brought against the China Railway Wuju Corporation, by one Seth Victor Ofoe, for and on behalf of the Ada Bedeku family of Ada Foah, seeking an order from the court to declare that the death of the deceased was not accidental, and that it was intentionally caused by one Chan Jian of the defendant company, and that the defendant was liable for the deceased’s death.
Until his death on May 5, 2007, Bismark was an electrician of the company, which is undertaking certain construction projects in the country.
He was stationed at the company’s offices along the banks of the Korle Lagoon in Accra.
It is the case of lawyers of the plaintiff, Bright Akwetey of Akwetey and Associates, that it had credible information, which has been confirmed by some workers of the defendant company to the effect that the deceased was crushed in a concrete mixer, used and owned by the defendant company on the premises of the same company on May 5, 2007.
He averred that the deceased, who was an electrician, was invited by his Chinese boss, Chan Jian, to enter the concrete mixer with him.
While in the concrete mixer, Jian was said to have instructed the deceased to scrape off pieces of caked cement residue that had gathered along the inner walls of the concrete machine.
Plaintiff family said information it had, which some workers of the same company had equally confirmed, suggested that when the deceased began the assignment he had been given in the concrete mixer, Jian stepped out of the mixer, and immediately pressed the button to switch the machine on, while the deceased was still in the concrete mixer.
In the process, they noted that the machine began crushing the deceased as he yelled for help.
Plaintiff further narrated that that information available to him, indicated that when he Jian heard the deceased screaming in the concrete mixer, he was seen running away from the machine room, but was immediately apprehended by some of the workers, one of whom run to the machine room and switched the engine off.
After the machine was switched off, some workers of the company managed to enter the concrete mixer, and pulled the deceased out.
He was found in a state of shock with his limbs crushed.
The deceased was then rushed to the 37 Military Hospital in Accra, by a driver called Victor Foli, a colleague driver of the company, who was accompanied by others including Daniel Lamptey, Anthony Kumah and one Felix Yeboah.
One Gertrude Martey, Secretary of the company, and another Mrs. Jian, Project Manager, later followed them to the hospital.
On the way to the hospital, the deceased was said to have spoken with the workers, but not long after the doctor had examined him, he gave up the ghost.
A post-mortem report indicated that he died as a result of hemorrhage, abdominal pelvic injuries, and having been trapped inside a working concrete machine.
Plaintiff therefore asserts that by all accounts, the death of the deceased was not accidental, since at the time Jian switched the machine on, there was neither cement, sand nor stones in the concrete mixer for mixing. It is therefore the case of plaintiff that Jian knew very well that there was a human being, in the person of Bismark Adotey Mensah in the concrete mixer, who he himself had instructed to work in the machine.
Plaintiff family are therefore seeking an order of the High Court for the defendant company and Chan Jian, to pay the full cost of the mortuary fees from the day the body was deposited in the morgue, until the day of the burial.
They are also seeking a relief for the payment of a lump sum of GH¢200,000 for the loss of the deceased life, and compensation of GH¢50,000 for the upkeep of the deceased’s wife, child, and mother, and any such orders as the court may deem fit.