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The man who attacked the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary aspirant for Cape Coast North, Mrs Barbara Asher Ayisi on Saturday morning, has been hospitalised at the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital.

A source at the hospital told Graphic Online that the man who was identified as Bismark Yao was brought in with visual hallucinations and aggression.
The source said the symptoms of the attacker were indicative of acute mental illness.

When Graphic Online visited the hospital Saturday evening, Yao had been sedated and was sleeping

Yao, said to be in his early 30s at about 9am Saturday forcefully entered the residence of the aspiring MP, throwing stones and causing mayhem.

He destroyed flower pots and a Kia Rio saloon car branded with posters of the aspirant before neighbours managed to overpower him.

Mrs Ayisi told Graphic Online that she was getting ready to go out for a programme when she heard someone shouting for the “parliamentary aspirant” to come out.

She said the man who was wielding a knife destroyed the vehicles with stones and smashed flower pots for about 30 minutes before he was overpowered by neighbours.

Yao Reported Missing

According to police sources, Yao was reported missing on Friday by a lady, Happy Zanu who said she was his fiancé.

All efforts to find him on Friday however proved futile.

According to Happy Zanu, they were residents in Cote D’Ivoire.

She told Graphic Online that Yao decided to take her to his parents who lived at Zongo, in Twifo Praso to introduce her to them.

She said they set off from Cote D’Ivoire on Friday but half way through the journey, Yao started shouting in the vehicle saying his former fiancé had turned into a tiger and was attacking him.

She said Yao even collected her mobile phone and threw it away destroying the window of the vehicle in which they were travelling.

“We even had to pay for the window. I had a lot of problem at the border,” she stated.

Zanu said when they got to Cape Coast on Friday evening, Yao was virtually uncontrollable so she decided not to continue the journey.

She said she was a stranger in Cape Coast so she was confused since Yao couldn’t even tell which of the Praso towns they were travelling to because "I hear there is more than one Praso,” she explained.

She said when they alighted from the vehicle on which they were travelling, Yao got down and took to his heels after hitting her with a bottle.

“I reported the incident to the police on Friday but we could not find him,” she noted.

Police said at around 9.30am on Saturday morning they got information that someone had attacked the residence of the aspiring MP. “We went there only to find out it was Yao,” she said.

Coming in the wake of the murder of the NPP MP for Abuakwa North Mrs Ayisi said she was terrified by the incident.

She expressed the hope that the incident would be thoroughly investigated.

She thanked all especially NPP presidential candidate and his vice presidential candidate for the concern shown.

The Police are still investigating the incident.

When Graphic Online got to the Anakaful Psychiatric hospital, Yao had been sedated and was sleeping.