Mother arrested for beating daughter to death, burying body
A 38-year-old woman is in the grip of the police for allegedly beating her eight-year-old child to death and secretly burying the body at a spot near the Lavender Hill, Korle Gono, in the Greater Accra Region.
Larteley Mensah, a trader, is said to have buried the body of her daughter with the assistance of her boyfriend, Ebenezer Annor, and a co-tenant, identified only as Adorkor.
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Annor and Adorkor are currently on the run.
The deceased has been identified as Tenee Sani.
Investigations
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Korle Bu District Police Commander, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr Theophilus J. Essilfie, said the police received a tip-off at about 4:30 p.m. on April 13, 2018 after the incident had taken place on March 27, 2018.
Larteley was arrested at her residence at Korle Gono about 12:30 a.m. on April 16, 2018 three days after the police had received the hint.
When she was arrested, she led the police to the Korle Gono Beach and showed them the exact location where she buried the body of her daughter.
Preliminary investigations by the police revealed that Tenee, the fourth child of the suspect, had been battling a skin disease which had been a source of worry to her parents over the years.
It was found that on March 27, 2017, Tenee, who was sick, vomited and Larteley asked her to cover the vomit with sand.
When Tenee was not able to cover her vomit, Larteley became angry and beat the little girl with a cane until she fell unconscious.
Larteley is said to have carried her unconscious daughter to her room, and about 10 p.m. on that day, some neighbours claimed to have seen Larteley carrying her daughter on her back.
Others, according to the police, also claimed to have seen Annor, Larteley’s lover, carryng the girl on his shoulders.
Exhumation
With the assistance of Annor and Adorkor, Larteley allegedly dug a pit at the beach and put the body of her daughter in a black polythene bag and buried it.
As part of investigations, the Korle Bu Police obtained a permit from the Lartebiokoshie Magistrate Court on March 19, 2018 to undertake an exhumation of the body to establish the actual cause of death of the girl.
Policemen led by Mr Essilfie, and crime scene officers last Wednesday joined a pathologist from the Police Hospital in Accra to exhume the body.
After digging about half a metre, a decomposed body wrapped in a black polythene bag was found.
It was then wrapped in a body bag and sent to the Police Hospital morgue in Accra for autopsy.