Three arrested for alleged ritual murder
Three persons have been arrested by the Kraboa Coaltar Police in connection with a suspected ritual murder.
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The suspects, Ama Kessewaa, 65; Yaw Adu, 49, and Kojo Bamba, 38, were arrested after the body of a 10-year-old boy was retrieved from a bush at Anafo in the Kraboa Coaltar District in the Eastern Region.
Although the cloths of the deceased, Daniel Kofi Sasu, were intact at the time the body was retrieved, his penis had been cut off and his left arm had also been cut off from the elbow. His right knee cap had also been removed.
Sasu was said to have gone missing for about seven days before the body was found in the bush by a member of the community.
He was believed to have been sold to some unknown persons by Kessewaa, his grand mother, with whom he lived.
On the run
Two other accomplices, including a man whose name was given only as Abraham, and another whose name was not known but said to be a Rastaman, are currently being looked for by the police.
Residents in the area were in a state of shock as they watched the police retrieve the body.
Inconsistency
Briefing the Daily Graphic last Friday, the Kraboa Coaltar District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr Charles Ahiamale, said the police had classified the discovery of the boy's dismembered body as consistent with a ritual homicide.
“The nature of the discovery of the body, missing features and the revelation after examination of the body and the nature of the wounds are consistent with that of a ritual homicide. There was a similar case in this area some time ago and the body parts removed were just like this one," he said.
Mr Ahiamale said Kessewaa’s story of how the boy went missing had been inconsistent.
According to him, on October 13, 2016, the police received a complaint from Kessewaa that her grandson was missing.
The well in which Kessewaa claimed she fell
He said Kessewaa, in her initial report, claimed she had been evicted from her family house, following a misunderstanding with one of her brothers and had relocated to a rented place with her grandson.
She said at about 8:30 p.m. on October 13, 2016 she fell in a well in the compound of the rented house and her grandson went out to call for help, but failed to return.
After she had struggled to get out of the well, she claimed she looked for the boy throughout the village without success for three days.
Later, she claimed she reported to the traditional leaders who directed gong-gong to be beaten to solicit the help of the residents to search for the boy.
On the seventh day, Mr Ahiamale said the body of the missing boy was found in a bush about 150 meters from the house where Kessewaa was residing at about 12 noon but the police got the information at 10 p.m.
After the body had been retrieved by the police, Mr Ahiamale said initial investigations showed that Kessewaa’s report had some loopholes.
Mother
The mother of the boy, Ms Joyce Sakyibea, told the Daily Graphic that her son was very fond of his grandmother and prefered being with her to anybody else.
She appealed to the public to assist the police in their investigations to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of her son.