Renowned sound engineer, Fred Kyei Mensah, has recounted how a young soldier almost shot him dead during the 1979 coup.
The incident, according to Fredima, as he is popularly known, occurred while he went to the cinema to watch a movie.
Narrating the terrifying experience, Fredima recounted that he was in a queue waiting to enter the cinema but decided to quickly buy Waakye before the movie.
“We were on vacation but attending classes, so I decided to go to the cinema on one of the days. I left my bag in the queue to buy the food, and just at that moment, there was a military raid, and someone kept a cigarette, which was an essential commodity around that time, in my bag and ran off.
“Unfortunately, the cigarette was found on me during a search, and I was arrested. Immediately, a young soldier, but for an order from his commander, corked his gun, ready to shoot me. I was severely beaten and slapped,” he told Afia Amankwa Tamakloe on Adom TV M’ashyase3.
Fredima narrated that he was taken to the Kumasi Central police station and was about to be taken into the cell when the CID intervened.
Fredima revealed that the CID suggested that they smell his hands because anyone who sells or smokes cigarettes has the smell on their hands.
“So they should smell, and when they did, there was nothing, and that was what saved me,” he said.
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