Commissioner of the Gauteng Police Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela, will on Tuesday, provide the Portfolio Committee on Community Safety of the Legislature with the third quarter crime figures for the fiscal year 2022-2023.
He’ll give a description of the crimes perpetrated in Gauteng between October and December 2022.
Mawela will also inform the committee about efforts to combat crime, including as gang-related violence in Johannesburg’s Westbury and Eldorado Park.
Crime statistics showed an increase in murder, rape, and other serious contact crimes, according to the quarterly crime statistics for the third quarter of 2022/2023 released in February by Police Minister Bheki Cele.
In 2022, police recorded an increase of 696 murders in the third quarter between October and December.
The committee’s ranking member, James Agalga, has defended the decision by the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament, the Defence Minister, and the Military High Command to visit Ashaiman on Thursday, March 16.
Some members of the public have questioned the timing, arguing that these institutions ought to contactAshaimanlocals right away to question them and get their firsthand accounts of what transpired.
According to James Agalga, who spoke to Citi News, the timeframe is to allow ongoing investigations to come to a reasonable conclusion.
“The Committee took the decision not to visit the scene at the time the Police and the GAF are in the community over the alleged killing and brutalities. The place is currently a crime scene, and some investigations are ongoing. If the committee is to proceed there, we stand to compromise the outcome, so we all agreed that we will wait till Thursday because by then, preliminary investigations would have been concluded.”
Some soldiers were reported to have beaten some residents of Ashaiman on Tuesday after a soldier was killed in the area.
Specifically, the military personnel invaded Ashaiman-Taifa and Tulaku on the dawn of March 7 in an attempt to arrest persons suspected of murdering a young military officer, Trooper Imoro Sherrif and ended up brutalizing people in the area and also arrested 184 persons, 150 of whom have been released as of March 9.
“We will visit the deceased soldier’s family and also the victims who were brutalized”, James Agalga said.
Speaking to journalists in Parliament, the Chairman of the Defence and Interior Committee, Ken Agyepong extended the condolence of the Committee to the family of the murdered soldier and also to the innocent people that were caught in the actions of the military.
“We met…in a closed-door meeting with the Ministry of Defence and the Military High Command, and we have agreed that we will visit Ashaiman on Thursday [March 16] to dialogue with the people as well as the Military High Command and in the meantime, we pleaded with the Member of Parliament for Ashaiman to stay calm, and we sympathize with him and the family of the victim and also to those innocent people that were caught up.”
A young man met his untimely death after he was lynched by an angry mob.
He was lynched at Asafo in Kumasi after being accused of attempting to steal a bus at the VIP station in the area.
The deceased believed to be in his 30s reportedly broke into one of the buses VIP-branded bus and drove it away.
The bus conductor saw this and jumped onto a motorbike to give him a hot chase.
According to the Dadiesoaba Assembly Member, Akwasi Agyeman, the conductor, while on the chase sounded the alarm and some residents joined in.
“When he got to the GRA office, the hill there, he needed to climb but because the bus also moves with air and apparently there was not enough air to keep it going.
“And because he didn’t get the chance to fill it with air before moving it, he got stuck and the mate was able to catch up with him,” Mr Agyeman told Accra-based Class FM.
The growing mob subsequently caught the suspect after another desperate attempt to flee the scene.
“When the mate shouted to attract the crowd, he attempted to get down and run away, he tried going back but run into someone’s vehicle. So people came and beat him up. The mob beat him up.”
His remains have been deposited at the morgue by police in Asokwa.
Information reaching our news desk is that about 20 military officers have invaded Ashaiman, restricting free movement of residents.
The Tuesday imposed curfew, per reports, comes as a response to the murder of a military officer over the weekend.
Reports say a male soldier was beaten to death by unknown civilians in the area.
OMG. Another sad new! A soldier was going home for treatment but couldn’t reach home. Some gang in Ashaiman beat him to death. R.I.P #Accra#Ashaimanpic.twitter.com/uXMbpgo55N
The heads of the security agencies in Ghana are yet to comment on the matter.
Meanwhile the matter has gotten social media buzzing, with many calling for police intervention.
The invasion of the soldiers come after a 22-year-old captain with the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) band in Sunyani in the Bono Region was reportedly stabbed to death by unknown attackers Saturday dawn.
The soldier, according to sources, was returning from his girlfriend’s house in Taifa and heading towards his residence at Zongo-Laka in Ashaiman when the unfortunate incident occurred.
Though he was carrying a laptop and other electronic gadgets the attackers made away with only his iPhone, according to the local media.
Police are currently investigating the circumstances under which the soldier was killed and appealing for information from the public.
#ashaiman the issue has escalated my people. The military is now entering and badging into home dragging some youths out their homes, especially those with dreads.. one civilian dead per rumors at Ashaiman taifa as a result of the beatings …😭😭
An influential South Carolina attorney was convicted guilty of killing his wife and son to draw attention away from his multi-million dollar financial misdeeds.
Alex Murdaugh, 54, was found guilty of two counts of murder after a six-week trial and a jury deliberation that lasted less than three hours.
For each count of murder, he risks a sentence of 30 years to life in jail without the possibility of parole.
On June 7, 2021, close range shots were fired at Maggie and Paul Murdaugh near the dog kennels on their family’s land.
In Walterboro on Thursday night, Alex Murdaugh was informed of his fate while standing motionlessly.
“Today’s verdict proves that no-one, no matter who you are in society, is above the law,” said South Carolina’s top prosecutor, Attorney General Alan Wilson.
The case – chronicling the downfall of a family born to power and privilege – has captivated the country, inspiring documentaries on Netflix and HBO.
Murdaugh was once an influential personal injury attorney in the state, and for decades until 2006 his family members had served as the leading prosecutors in the area. Such was their influence that the jurisdiction became known as “Murdaugh Country”.
But the trial heard that for years he had been stealing from his law partners and clients to feed an addiction to painkillers and an extravagant lifestyle.
Murdaugh had pleaded not guilty to killing his wife and youngest son in an attempt to conceal years of financial corruption – fraud that he himself had acknowledged in court.
After the 12-person jury’s verdict, dozens of spectators gathered outside the back of the court where officers ushered a handcuffed Murdaugh quickly into a black van.
Reporters shouted questions, though he remained silent. As police tucked him inside the vehicle, one man behind the media line shouted that he was praying for him.
Image caption,Maggie Murdaugh, pictured here with Alex, was said to be a devoted mother
It took more than a year for investigators to arrest Murdaugh as they untangled the complex case.
In a risky move for any murder defendant, Murdaugh took to the witness stand, trying to convince the jury that someone angry over a deadly 2019 boating accident involving Paul could have killed his son to seek revenge.
“I would never hurt Maggie, and I would never hurt Paul – ever – under any circumstances,” Murdaugh testified.
The case against him was based entirely on circumstantial evidence. No direct evidence – things like a murder weapon, blood on his clothing or an eyewitness – was presented at trial.
Instead the prosecution focused on an incriminating Snapchat video taken by Murdaugh’s son just before the murders.
Paul and his mother were killed at the kennels on the family’s sprawling hunting estate, known as Moselle.
For 20 months after their murders, Alex Murdaugh told law enforcement repeatedly he had not been at the dog kennels at all that evening, and was at home napping.
But in the Snapchat video filmed by Paul just minutes before the shootings, the defendant’s voice could be heard in the background.
On the stand at trial, Murdaugh admitted he had lied, saying his years-long addiction to painkillers had put him in a paranoid state.
The court also heard of Murdaugh’s bizarre attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme just three months after he murdered his 52-year-old wife and 22-year-old son. The hitman he hired botched the shooting and the bullet only grazed his head.
Image caption,Alex Murdaugh (right) murdered his wife, Maggie, and his youngest son Paul
Local resident Jessica Williams, 38, stood outside the court watching the proceedings on the phone with her six-year-old daughter.
“I am so happy,” she told BBC News after the verdict was announced, adding: “I remember where I was when the verdict for OJ Simpson came down [in 1995]. This was the same thing.”
Early on in the proceedings, Judge Clifton Newman ruled that prosecutors could bring in evidence of Murdaugh’s alleged financial crimes.
Investigators say he stole millions from clients and colleagues, including $3.7m (£3m) in 2019 alone. And at trial, Murdaugh admitted to wide-scale theft.
Prosecutors argued it was these crimes that drove him to murder – that he thought the deaths of Maggie and Paul would gain him sympathy and stave off a reckoning over his other misdeeds.
Murdaugh and his defence team had argued in court that this theory was ludicrous and financial problems would never have led him to murder.
Several witnesses testified that on the night of the murders Alex Murdaugh had asked Maggie, who had been at the family’s other property in nearby Edisto Beach, to return to Moselle.
Maggie much preferred Edisto to Moselle and hadn’t planned on leaving, her sister Marion Proctor told the court. But Murdaugh’s elderly father was dying, and so Mrs Proctor encouraged her to support him.
Alex Murdaugh and his two sons were fond of hunting, and Moselle was home to a collection of guns.
Prosecutors alleged that Murdaugh had used one of these – a .300 Blackout assault-style rifle – to kill Maggie, and another weapon to kill Paul. But they were unable to find either firearm and produce them at trial.
Maggie was shot four or five times with a rifle and their son was shot twice with a shotgun, the trial heard.
At least one person is has been shot dead after an altercation between workers at theAsanko Gold Mine and youth from the Amansie South District in the Ashanti Region.
According to a news report by UTV, the person shot was one of the youth of Amansie South, and this resulted in further clashes between the miners and the youth.
The District Chief Executive of Amansie South, Clement Opoku Gyamfi, who confirmed the incident in an interview with UTV that was monitored by GhanaWeb, said that the youth who was shot had been taken to the hospital.
“Some of the youth enter one of the pits of Asanko Gold to mine in order to find something to eat. And they were confronted by the security of the mining company, which led to a clash and some gunshots being fired.
“One of the youths was hit by a gunshot, and he is now in the hospital getting treatment. The news of one of the youth being shot resulted in reprisal attacks, which led to one of the trucks of Asoka Gold being completely burned, and other vehicles and facilities of the company being damaged,” he said in the Twi dialect.
Opoku Gyamfi called on the youth to remain calm as the incident is being investigated.
The General-Manager of Asanko Mines, Ahmed Muhadeeni Yahaya, also said the youth who entered the mining pit were illegal miners.
He added that the policemen protecting the pit only opened fire on them because they (the youth) started attacking them with cutlasses.
A murder conviction in Missouri was reversed by a judge despite the fact that the defendant had maintained his innocence throughout the whole case and had already served over 28 years in prison.
In a statement shared Tuesday, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner reflected on the long journey to freedom for 50-year-old Lamar Johnson, who was previously convicted in connection with the fatal 1994 shooting of Marcus Boyd.
“Today the courts righted a wrong—vacating the sentence of Mr. Lamar Johnson following his wrongful conviction in 1995,” Gardner said. “Most importantly, we celebrated with Mr. Johnson and his family as he walks out of the courtroom as a free man.”
According to Gardner, this outcome shows that “a person’s right to justice and liberty is valued more than the finality of an unjust conviction.”
Elsewhere, Gardner thanked Johnson’s attorneys, as well as the team at the not-for-profit Midwest Innocence Project (MIP) organization. The latter is part of the nationwide Innocence Network and is focused on securing freedom for those wrongfully convicted of crimes in Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska.
Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder in 1995 and later sentenced to life without parole. Per MIP, initial calls for a new trial were informed by a slew of problems with the case, including confessions to the murder from two other men and instances of police “lying and hiding exculpatory evidence.”
As the Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner law firm noted in a news release on Tuesday, Johnson’s overturned conviction is historic for the region. Attorneys Charles Weiss and Jonathan Potts, both appointed by Gardner, won what now stands as the first wrongful conviction case brought by a local prosecutor in St. Louis city history.
“Lamar’s case is fraught with the kind of mistakes we see too frequently by the police and prosecution, including pressuring eye witnesses to identify the perpetrator, even though such eye witness identification is highly questionable and improbable, paying witnesses to testify under the guise of witness protection and then failing to disclose such payments to the defense and presenting unreliable jail house informant’s testimony,” Weiss said of the victory. “On the other hand, Lamar’s case is also an example of how our system can correct such mistakes and free an innocent person.”
Following Tuesday’s ruling, Johnson is now a free man.
Complex has reached out to his attorneys for additional comment. This story may be updated.
A man has confessed to contacting a hit man with the intention of murdering a 14-year-old in exchange for $20,000 in Bitcoin.
The New Jersey man admitted he paid a hit man $20,000 in bitcoin to kill a 14-year-old boy in an effort to prevent him from testifying in his child sex abuse case, NBC News reports.
31-year-old John Michael Musbach pleaded guilty in Camden federal court last week to an indictment that charged him with hiring a killer online. He pleaded guilty to “one count of knowingly and intentionally using and causing another to use a facility of interstate and foreign commerce, that is the internet, with the intent that a murder be committed,” per the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
Musbach was initially accused of exchanging sexually explicit material with a victim who was 13 during the summer of 2015. According to prosecutors, the victim’s parents learned of the exchange and alerted authorities. Musbach was identified by police in March 2016, and was arrested on child pornography charges following a search warrant on his home in Galloway, New Jersey.
As the criminal case was pending, Musbach attempted to hire the killer through the use of cryptocurrency. Between May 7 to May 20 in 2016, he “repeatedly communicated with the administrator of a murder-for-hire website” on the dark web. “Musbach asked if a 14-year-old was too young to target, and upon hearing that the age was not a problem, paid approximately 40 bitcoin (approximately $20,000 at the time) for the hit,” the release reads.
The administrator of the website was contacted by Musbach multiple times, who was asking when the hit would happen. The admin then asked for $5,000 more, and Musbach attempted to cancel the transaction in an attempt to get a refund. They revealed to him that the site was a scam, and said they would reveal his attempt to hire a killer to authorities.
Musbach is currently facing a potential decade behind bars, and a fine of $250,000. He is set to be sentenced on June 13.
“Mr. Musbach decided to put this matter behind him and accepted his responsibility without a trial,” said his attorney Rocco C. Cipparone. “The more limited sentencing range negotiated in this plea agreement appropriately limits Mr. Musbach’s sentencing exposure for reasons which will be expounded upon at sentencing. We now look forward to putting forth in context at sentencing, detailed mitigating information, and positive information, about Mr. Musbach.”
A video footage has revealed that America rapper, XXXTentacion, withdrew a sum of $50,000 prior to his death. This was revealed on the opening day of the trial for the three men accused of fatally shooting the rapper.
In court on Thursday, February 2, 2023, one of the South Florida rapper’s friends detailed how he and the artist were ambushed while driving in his BMW.
“If I run, I can get shot, but I can live. If I sit…” Leonard Kerr began recalling for the court, while detailing how his friend XXXTentacion was killed while pulling out of the Riva Motorsports parking lot near Fort Lauderdale on June 18, 2018. The Associated Press said Kerr then trailed off “until he stopped to regain his composure”
According to Kerr, the two men confronted them with weapons, urging them to get out of the car. Kerr obliged, while XXXTentacion stayed in the vehicle. As Kerr fled, he heard “at least two loud bangs,” before he noticed the two men got back into their car and had taken the $50,000 XXXTentacion is seen withdrawing from his bank account in the above video.
XXXTentacion withdrawing $50,000 from the bank moments before he was killed in 2018 has been released following the start of his murder trial. pic.twitter.com/WtCSyxcvZz
Three men involved in the murder face charges, with Michael Boatwright, 28, accused of being the shooter; Trayon Newsome, 24, accused of being the other gunman; and Dedrick Williams, 26, accused of being the driver.
The trio were arrested after they hopped on social media and flaunted the money allegedly stolen from XXX.
“They go on social media and start bragging that they have this influx of cash,” prosecutor Pascale Achille said. “They flash it like it’s Christmas Day.”
Residents of Sepe-Boukrom, a town in the Ashanti Regional Capital, Kumasi have been thrown into a state of shock following the death of a 61-year-old woman.
The deceased, Rose Gyaah, was stabbed eight (8) times with a knife by the suspect, a 21-year-old man.
Body of the deceased was discovered in her bathroom in a three-storey building after she was stabbed by the suspect on Monday, February 6, 2023.
The suspect, identified as Koo Baah, according to eyewitnesses, threatened to eliminate any person who attempted to arrest him with a gun after committing the heinous act on Monday morning.
However, the fearless angry youth in the Buokrom Community overpowered the suspect and handed him immediately to Kumasi Airport Police Command.
Narrating how the incident occurred, a co-tenant to the deceased, Hamidu Issah explained,
“We heard the deceased Maa Rose shouting while mentioning the name Koo Baafi who happens to be an errand boy for her, so we thought it was a normal call which she normally does, but we realized the deceased’s voice was getting faint, so we rushed to her room at the last floor of the three-storey building.
“When got there, we saw blood stains all over the place, so we began following the blood stains and discovered the woman had been dragged to the bathroom by the suspect.
“We immediately called the police for assistance but the woman was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.”
The unfortunate incident has thrown the entire community into a state of shock and mourning.
Having filed a special defence of diminished responsibility, Andrew Innes, 52, denied killing Bennylyn Burke, 25, and infant Jellica at his Dundee home.
A man was found guilty of killing a mother and her 2-year-old daughter and burying their corpses under his kitchen floor.
The 52-year-old Andrew Innes admitted killing 25-year-old Bennylyn Burke and 1-year-old Jellica, but he denied murder and filed a special defence on the grounds that he lacked criminal responsibility and had diminished responsibility.
On Monday, Judge Lord Beckett told the jury at Edinburgh High Court that they were “bound to find the accused guilty of murder”.
It comes after the judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to support the defence that medication had caused Innes to suffer steroid-induced psychosis which led to him going “insane”.
Innes admitted hitting Ms Burke on the head with a hammer. He then stabbed her with a samurai sword before bludgeoning her with the handle of the blade and the hammer.
He also admitted asphyxiating Jellica before burying both bodies under the kitchen floor of his house in Dundee.
Ms Burke, originally from the Philippines, moved to Bristol a few years ago and met Innes via an online dating site.
Innes travelled to Bristol to meet Ms Burke in February 2021 before returning to Dundee the following day with both Ms Burke and Jellica for the weekend.
‘I was apocalyptically angry’
He claimed when Ms Burke was in his kitchen cooking, he thought she looked like a “hybrid” of his estranged wife and another former partner.
Innes said he “thought of all the nasty stuff” his wife had allegedly done and said the other woman “left him in the most horrible way”.
“I was apocalyptically angry,” he said.
It was then he launched his attack, hitting Ms Burke on the back of the head with a hammer.
Image:Bennylyn Burke was hit on the back of the head with a hammer
‘I was insane as a result of the steroids’
During questioning by defence lawyer Brian McConnachie KC, Innes claimed he killed Jellica two or three days after Ms Burke.
He said the toddler wanted her mother, adding that it “seemed logical to me to put her with her mum”.
Asked why he killed Jellica, he replied: “Because I was insane as a result of the steroids.”
The jury had been told that Innes was taking steroid medication for a condition and had not slept at the time of the deaths.
Innes denied the killings had been premeditated.
He described the hammer as “not a useful weapon”, adding: “If this was premeditated in any way it would have been way cleaner.”
The crimes took place at Innes’s house in Troon Avenue, Dundee, between 20 February and 5 March 2021.
Image:Detective Chief Inspector Graham Smith of Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Team said Innes’s crimes were ‘absolutely horrific’
He told Sky News: “That crime scene and the trauma that was involved in that crime scene is probably a one-off, I’d certainly like to think it’s a one-off.”
Speaking of Innes, DCI Smith said: “The depravity that he’s shown is unimaginable, it’s absolutely horrific.”
Image:Police activity at Innes’s house in Dundee in March 2021Image:Police locked down the property
The painstaking excavation work in Innes’s kitchen involved “meticulous planning” with assistance from forensic, archaeology, anthropology and geology experts.
DCI Smith said: “It took a period of six days’ work for them to go into that house knowing what they were looking for and what they would eventually recover. To this day some officers are still struggling with that and it’s certainly an inquiry that I and the inquiry team will never forget.”
Once arrested, investigating officers said Innes showed “no remorse” and “wallowed in self-pity”.
Image:Andrew Innes claimed he killed Jellica two or three days after he killed her mother
DCI Smith said he didn’t want to focus on Innes and instead praised the courage of the victims’ families.
He said: “Credit needs to go to them for the strength they’ve shown through all this, and I hope this conviction brings them some closure.”
Co-owner of the popular Atlanta nightclub Republic Lounge, Michael Gidewon, has been fatally shot.
He was shot outside the establishment on Saturday morning, according to a report by complex.com.
11Alive reports police arrived at the scene around 7 a.m. Saturday, and found Gidewon suffering from a gunshot wound. He was not responsive. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene. According to a security guard at Republic Lounge, someone who was kicked out earlier in the night returned with a gun and killed Gidewon.
The Atlanta Police Department has not spoken on the events which led up to the shooting, and has not yet identified anyone involved.
Gidewon owned Republic Lounge with his brother, Alex, and would frequently be seen hanging out with established rappers such as T.I., Young Jeezy, Usher, Nelly, Jermaine Dupri, Lil Baby, and Ludacris. Michael’s brother Alex now heads AG Entertainment, before owning and operating the now-defunct entertainment club Compound.
Gidewon leaves behind his wife and four kids, all in middle and high school.
“His family meant the world to him,” a family friend of Gidewon’s told 11Alive. “I know that he loved his wife, his children. He wanted to make sure that he could provide for them regardless of what was happening.”
Michael and Alex emigrated to Atlanta to escape violence in their home East African of Eritrea. “That takes on a whole different dynamic because you’re really taking work home at that point,” the source said. “They were able to overcome all of that and still come here and be successful and still become a very integral part of the city from the standpoint of not just employing, having nightclubs, but they also had a foundation.”
At his home in Maamekrobo, in the Kwahu Afram Plains South District of the Eastern Region, 54-year-old farmer Kwasi Ahoku is said to have been shot dead by police.
The incident occurred on Friday, February 3, 2023, around 6:30am.
It is alleged that the police are the cause of the death after firing several shots into the house of the deceased in an attempt to force him out for interrogation after a Fulani herdsman claimed that his cattle has been gunned down by a farmer suspected to be the deceased.
A resident who is the former Chairman of the Afram Plains Farmers Association, Mathew Afrani in an interview on Agoo FM Morning revealed that about fifteen bullets were fired at the deceased residence, leaving several gunshot marks on the wall of the house.
“After the gunshots, the police forced and broke into the room of the suspect and found him dead with gunshot wounds on his body in a pool of blood,” he said.
Speaking on the matter, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Kwahu Afram Plains South District Assembly, Evans Kyei Ntiri expressed his displeasure with the devastating incident which has occurred in his district.
He explained that he had a call from the District Police Commander who informed him of the incident.
He said, according to the Police, the deceased (Kwasi Ahoku) tried to face off with the policemen when the police got to his residence.
“He challenged the police that he is also in possession of a gun which escalated the tension and resulted in many warning shots released in the skies. As the police broke into the room, they saw the man dead lying beside his gun. We are still investigating the matter to know the actual root of the incident,” Mr Ntiri said.
Police say the matter is under investigation and will be receiving persons who are willing to help out with information on the said incident.
The New Jersey Republican Party (NJGOP) in the United States has unreservedly condemned the murder of one of its members, Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfuor, a Ghanaian-American.
According to multiple reports by news portals, the 30-year-old, from Sayreville, New Jersey, was found inside her car with multiple gunshot wounds just before 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.
The police have since said they believe she was the intended target of the shooting, but they do not have a clear motive, the report added.
Eunice Dwumfour, who was a business analyst and part-time EMT, is said to have been elected to the council in 2021.
The NJGOP statement was issued by Chairman Bob Hugin, who mourned the demise of Dwumfour describing it as one that came about as a result of ‘senseless violence.’
His statement eulogized her for among others, “the steadfast dedication to the community, as well as her deep and abiding Christian faith.”
“We have the utmost confidence that law enforcement will bring the perpetrators of this heartbreaking tragedy to justice. God Bless Councilwoman Dwumfuor and her family,” the statement concluded.
Full statement: NJGOP Statement on the Murder of Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfuor
TRENTON – “On behalf of the New Jersey Republican State Committee, I would like to express our horror and deepest sorrow at the senseless violence that claimed the life of Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfuor. We will remember Eunice for the steadfast dedication to the community, as well as her deep and abiding Christian faith. We have the utmost confidence that law enforcement will bring the perpetrators of this heartbreaking tragedy to justice. God Bless Councilwoman Dwumfuor and her family. Chairman Bob Hugin
Three former police officers and a civilian aredue to be sentenced by a Kenyan court for the 2016 murder of renowned human rights attorney Willie Kimani.
Last year, a jury found the four defendants—Fredrick Leliman, Stephen Cheburet, Sylvia Wanjiku, and Peter Ngugi—guilty of killing Mr. Kimani, his client Josephat Mwendwa, and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri.
The late lawyer’s wife and family have already arrived at the crowded courthouse in Nairobi, the country’s capital.
After being dumped in a river outside of Nairobi, the bodies of Mr. Kimani and the other two victims were discovered.
The lawyer was defending Mr Mwendwa, a motorbike taxi driver who had accused Mr Leliman – one of the three officers found guilty – of shooting him for no reason at a traffic stop in 2015.
Mr Kimani, Mr Mwendwa and Mr Muiruri were last seen on 23 June 2016 at a police station.
Their mutilated bodies were recovered two weeks later in a river almost 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the city.
The sentencing comes at a time when Kenya’s police service is under yet more scrutiny over extrajudicial killings and abductions.
President William Rutohas already disbanded several special units accused of civilian murder and kidnapping.
Manhyia North MP, Akwasi Konadu, has appealed to residents of Krofrom to assist police to bring justice in the murder of Kwabena Azure, a resident of the Krofrom community.
Speaking to David Akuetteh on Luv-In-The-Morning on Luv FM,on Monday, the MP charged residents to assist the Police with information to help arrest the perpetrators to prevent further reprisal attacks.
“The reprisal attacks will continue if we fail to give information to the Police to get these criminals arrested,” he said.
Kwabena Azure was subjected to several machete slashes by unknown assailants and died upon arrival at the hospital.
Some armed men, suspected to be friends of the deceased, allegedly looted and set a five-bedroom house on fire in what is believed to be a revenge attack.
While describing the violent acts as horrendous, Akwasi Konadu assured residents of his support in resolving the impasse as soon as possible to eliminate fear and panic in the community.
He said residents should boldly name the perpetrators without fear of being attacked.
“I want to assure any resident in Krofrom that nothing will happen to him or her if they come forward with information,” he assured.
The MP further entreated all residents of Krofrom to stay vigilant and report any suspicious activity they witness to the Police.
The Police have also indicated that investigations are still ongoing to apprehend the perpetrators.
The Ghana Police Service has arrested four persons who robbed a filling station and murdered a security guard on duty on Saturday, January 28, at Wassa Agona in the Western Region.
The suspects are Francis Ebuka, Wisdom Justway, Samuel Chibuzor and Kingsley Okechuku alias Kofi Kingsley.
According to the police report, the suspects who raided the station also subjected the fuel attendants to severe beatings.
They also made away with an unspecified amount of money together with the filling station’s CCTV Digital Video Recorder (DVR) and mobile phones belonging to the victims.
“Upon receiving information concerning the robbery attack, Police patrol teams within the catchment area mobilized and proceeded to the scene and in the course of the operation arrested suspect Francis Ebuka, Wisdom Justway and Samuel Chibuzor who were fleeing the robbery scene on a motorbike,” parts of the statement read.
The police then conducted a search on the arrested suspects. This led them to recover a black hood, a handbag containing two mobile phones and an amount of GH₵20,722.00.
“The Police team further pursued the fourth suspect, Kingsly Okechuku to a hotel near Bogoso where an amount of GH₵ 44,852.00, suspected to be part of their booty, was retrieved from him,” they added.
Meanwhile, other items recovered from the suspects include the DVR components of the CCTV setup stolen by the suspects together with two pinch bars and a Ghana Card belonging to one of the victims.
Also, the police indicated that all four suspects, are currently in their custody and will subsequently be put before the court to face justice.
They assured the public that they will continue to work tirelessly to keep the communities safe.
A Kenyan court on Wednesday convicted a Venezuelan diplomat over the murder of the Latin American nation’s acting ambassador 10 years ago at her official residence in the capital, Nairobi.
Dwight Sagaray, who was the Venezuelan embassy’s first secretary, was found guilty of the killing of Olga Fonseca on 27 July 2012.
Three Kenyan nationals who had been charged alongside Mr Sagaray were also convicted.
The diplomat was tried for the murder after his diplomatic immunity was waived by Venezuela.
The court found that Mr Sagaray was heading the mission before the arrival of Ms Fonseca and was angered by her presence since he wanted to continue overseeing the embassy, Reuters news agency reports.
Ms Fonseca, 57, was killed less than two weeks after she started her new role in Nairobi on 15 July.
Agorsor Christian, a 22-year-old commercial motor rider, has allegedly stabbed his colleague rider to death.
The Ghana News Agency (GNA) learnt the alleged act was as a result of the suspect’s attempt to pick a passenger ahead of the deceased.
Agbesi Davor, 33, died on his way to the Abor Sacred Heart Hospital after his colleague stabbed him in the chest with a screwdriver.
Mr Raphael Ahiable, the Assemblyman for the area, told the GNA that a misunderstanding ensued between the two riders at their parking terminal as to whose turn it was to pick a passenger first.
The suspect, to express his anger, pulled out a screwdriver and stabbed the deceased’s chest before absconding.
Mr Ahiable said the deceased was quickly conveyed on a motorcycle by residents in the area.
“It was initially planned to move him to Abor Hospital but was rushed to a health center at Avenorpedo on their way after they realised his condition was worsening but died upon arrival,” he said.
Sources at the Abor Police Command confirmed the incident to the GNA.
The sources said the suspect fled the scene before the police arrived, but was later brought to the police station by his father, Pastor Agorsor Gomez.
The police at Abor said the suspect was currently in custody as investigations continued.
The body of the deceased has since been deposited at the Sacred Heart Hospital Morgue at Abor for autopsy.
A farmer in his late 40s is reported to have shot his son to death during an argument.
The son, whose name has been given as Ankoo, 25, according to 3news.com, died on the spot at the Ahuntumanu community.
Confirming the incident, an Assembly member for the area Stephen Ackah stated that the suspect, identified as uncle Awortwe, confronted his son about his bad behavior, which included stealing valuable items from his house whenever he visited.
However, during the last visit, he attempted to take his father’s hunting gun away, but his father got upset and shot him.
“The information I have gathered is that the son who is now deceased has become a burden on his father due to his bad attitude. He lives in Kwesimintsim, and whenever he visits his father, he steals almost everything in the house and sells it.
“His father has been complaining on several occasions, but he is not changing his bad attitude. So, it is alleged that he came to visit his father and exhibited a similar attitude; this time, he wanted to take his hunting gun away. His father got frustrated and shot him.” 3news.com quoted Stephen Ackah.
Stephen Ackah added that the sound of the gunshot made members of the community rush to the scene, only to find his son dead in a pool of blood.
“They heard gunshots and rushed to their house, but they only found the lifeless body of Ankoo in a pool of blood. He was already dead,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Ahanta West District Police Command has apprehended uncle Awortwe and launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incident.
The lifeless body of the deceased has been deposited at the mortuary for autopsy.
According to relatives of the deceased, Micheal who had some months ago threatened to commit the offense went ahead to do so on Thursday after accusing his wife of infidelity.
They explained that Abeiku Michael after a short argument with the wife who had just returned home after going to stay with her mother for some time now inflicted multiple deep machete wounds on her limbs, neck, breast, and knees until she bled out profusely and died before the arrival of the police.
An uncle of the deceased Ebenezer Boadi who spoke to the media disclosed that the police had began their investigations.
He noted that the suspect is currently on the run after committing the dastardly act.
“It’s a very sad situation, they have an unresolved issue. The husband a few months ago threatened to kill my niece for allegedly cheating on him after a man called her on phone. The husband later called the man back and the two exchanged words. My niece who was scared of her life, sought divorce, but the man begged me to settle the matter. So we were in the process of doing that and he just killed my niece. The police came to the house to take some pictures and videos,” Mr. Boadi narrated.
He said the kids are now staying with their grand mother.
The Millennium City Police Command has commenced investigations into the circumstances that led to the death of a mother and son at Green Estate, a suburb of Nyame N’Adom in the Gomoa East District.
The woman, aged between 48 and 50, and her son identified as Alexander Ofori, 28, were found dead in their three-bedroom apartment last Saturday, January 7, after a strong stench emanated from the house according to residents who reported to the police.
The Police on arrival said the two, whose bodies were nearly decomposed, had died several days before their discovery.
The bodies of the victims have since been deposited at the morgue.
According to a resident who spoke with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), she last saw the woman who operated a pub together with her son in the area, late in the afternoon on Tuesday, January 3, going to work.
The Chairman of the Residents’ Association of Gomoa Nyame N’Adom, Mr James Amuah told the GNA that a cousin of the woman informed the association that the woman was unreachable after several calls placed to her on phone.
She, therefore, followed up to the house on Friday night (January 6) in search of her but the house was under lock and key.
Fear and panic have gripped residents of Dominase in the Assin South District of the Central Region following the murder of a 28-year-old man.
The deceased identified as Kwaku Emmanuel before his demise worked with a renowned Cocoa Purchasing Company in the Assin South District as a cocoa carrier.
The mother of the deceased, Yaa Mansa, 65, in an interview with Kasapa News, disclosed that her son left home around 10 PM on Monday, 9th January 2023 to Assin Fosu after taking his supper.
She added that to their shock, they found out the next day (Tuesday, January,10,2023) morning that the deceased has been brutally murdered and dumped on the outskirt of the town with bruises on his face and blood oozing from the nostrils, mouths and ears.
A plier, blocks, sticks and metal was also found near his dead body an indication that he might have been murdered.
Further checks found a school bag 60 meters away from the dead body, containing 3 balls of kenkey, a stabilizer, and a Bluetooth speaker and same have been kept as exhibits.
A team of Police Officers led by Chief Superintendent Cephas Arthur, the Assin Fosu District Police Commander upon hearing the news went to the crime scene to convey the body to the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital mortuary.
The Police have commenced investigation into the death and have appealed to the residents to assist them with information that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.
A 60-year-old man who was mauled to death over the weekend by his own dogs in the South African town of Lichtenburg, has been formally identified as Zambian football star, Philemon Mulala.
Mr Mulala’s wife is reported to have found him lifeless in the garden of their home and quickly called for the emergency services who pronounced him dead at the scene, according to a statement by the South African Police Service.
Tributes have been pouring in with the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) leading the way. FAZ general secretary Adrian Kashala told South Africa’s Times Live newspaper; “We remain with wonderful memories that the late Philemon honoured us with on the pitch.”
Mr Mulala moved to South Africa in the 1980s to play for the Kaizer Chiefs and later, the Cape Town Spurs.
The South African Police Service has said that an inquest docket has been opened and investigation into the matter continues.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have removed the three dogs from their home and put them in shelters.
A Kenyan court has allowed police to detain five suspects linked to the murder of LGBT activist Edwin Chiloba for 21 days.
This is to enable further investigations into the death, including conducting an autopsy and a forensic examination of the deceased’s house and the vehicle which was used to transport and dump the body.
The police said they also need time to review CCTV footage of Chiloba’s last moments and phone records from his handset.
The model’s decomposing body was found stashed in a metal box and dumped along a remote road outside Eldoret town.
Human rights activists and civil society groups have condemned the horrific killing.
The five people arrested include Chiloba’s long-time friend Jackton Odhiambo and three minors.
Harry claimed that the army instructed him not to see Taliban members as actual individuals, according to The Telegraph, which got an excerpt from the book. He continued by saying that his kill total as a pilot of an Apache assault helicopter is “neither proud nor ashamed.”
Prince Harry in his upcoming memoir ‘Spare,’ wrote that he killed more than two dozen people in Afghanistan during his time as a soldier hunting Taliban extremists.
According to The Telegraph, which obtained an excerpt from the book, Harry said the army taught him not to view members of the Taliban as people. He further stated that he is “neither proud nor ashamed” of his kill count as an Apache attack helicopter pilot.
Harry, the Duke of Sussex, served in Afghanistan first as a forward air controller in air raids from 2007-2008, then flying the attack helicopter between 2012 and 2013.
The 38-year-old is due to release a book, Spare, in the next week, in which he revealed that he undertook six missions as a pilot that led to him “taking human lives”.
According to the report, Harry said he was neither proud nor ashamed of doing so. He also described eliminating the targets as removing “chess pieces” from a board.
“My number is 25. It’s not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me,” he wrote.
The prince explained his justification for his actions because of the 9/11 attacks in the United States and meeting the families of the victims.
He said those responsible and their sympathisers were “enemies of humanity” and fighting them was an act of vengeance for a crime against humanity.
The US-led foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021 after 20 years of military occupation that left tens of thousands of people dead, mostly civilians.
In the already controversial book to be published on January 10, Harry talked for the first time about the number of Taliban fighters he killed during his service.
Prince Harry’s autobiography ‘Spare’ is not due out until next week but it dominated headlines on Thursday after a Spanish-language version of the memoir mistakenly went on sale.
The book was hurriedly withdrawn from shelves in Spain but not before copies were obtained by media outlets, who pored over its contents and published key excerpts.
They include how Harry was allegedly physically attacked by his older brother, Prince William, in a blazing 2019 row about his wife, Meghan Markle. He wrote that his fight with William came after his brother called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”.
The memoir also touches on his strained relationship with his father, King Charles III, as well as disclosures about how he was told of the death of his mother Princess Diana in a car crash in 1997, and his use of cocaine as a teenager.
Eight teenagegirls have been charged with the second-degree murder of a 59-year-old man in downtown Toronto.
On Sunday, Dec. 18, police reported the stabbing of a man on York Street and University Avenue around 12:17 a.m.
Toronto police said the group consisted of three 13-year-olds, three 14-year-olds, and two 16-year-olds who allegedly assaulted and stabbed a man repeatedly. He was then taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and died shortly after.
Det. Sgt. Terry Browne said in a press conference that a group of people flagged down emergency medical services shortly after the assault.
Police then located and arrested the group of girls in a nearby location while securing a number of weapons.
The individuals cannot be identified under the terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
“These eight individuals, from what we’ve gathered so far, is that they met through social media,” Browne said in reply to a question from a journalist. “They come from varying parts of the city – that is to say they are not from one specific geographic location. We don’t know how they met on that evening, and why the destination was downtown Toronto.”
Browne also added that he wouldn’t quite classify them as a gang at this point. He instead said that the incident could be classified as a swarming.
Three of the eight individuals had “prior contact” with the police but the remaining five were unknown to the police.
The victim had recently moved into Toronto’s shelter system and Browne said he had a supportive family behind him. He refused to call him “homeless,” instead implying that he had fallen on hard times.
The girls appeared in court on Dec. 18 and are set to appear once again on Dec. 29.
Two young boys who were discovered dead at a residence in east Londonhave been charged with murder in relation to a 44-year-old woman.
The bodies of two and five-year-old boys were discovered at a home in Cornwallis Road, Dagenham, on Friday. Kara Alexander, a resident of Dagenham, is charged with their murders.
She will make an appearance later at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court.
The Metropolitan Police stated that formal identification and post-mortem investigations will happen “in due course.”
Family members have been informed of the deaths and continue to be supported by specialist officers, the force said in a statement.
A 29-year-old man has been arrested and charged with murderafter allegedly killing his Uber driver in a hotel parking lot in the Harvey area of Louisiana.
According to a report from regional outlet WWL-TV, the Uber driver in question has been identified as 54-year-old Yolanda Dillion, who also worked as a budget analyst for the New Orleans Police Department. The suspect, identified as Brandon Jacobs, is alleged to have fatally stabbed Dillion following a ride from New Orleans to a hotel in Harvey. He’s also alleged to have shared footage of the aftermath of the fatal stabbing to Facebook.
Per online arrest records, Jacobs was arrested on Dec. 8 on a charge of second-degree murder. In a statement, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said that deputies had initially been called to the scene at around 3:00 p.m. local time. When they arrived, deputies found Dillion inside her car, at which point she was taken to a nearby hospital and later died.
“Our investigation has shown that the victim was an Uber driver providing a ride to Jacobs from a location in New Orleans to the hotel,” the department said over the weekend. “When the ride ended, Jacobs stabbed her repeatedly before leaving the vehicle. Jacobs was later apprehended at the hotel. After his arrest, Jacobs was interviewed by our investigators. He admitted to stabbing the victim at the end of the ride. He told detectives that he selected the victim at random because he wanted to kill someone.”
When reached for comment by Complex on Monday, a rep for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office pointed to the aforementioned social media-shared statement on the arrest. Complex has also reached out to the New Orleans Police Department for additional comment. This story may be updated.
The Ofaakor District Police Command has arrested a woman for allegedly dumping her four-day-old baby in an abandoned manhole at Dansam, a suburb of Awutu Ofaakor in the Awutu Senya East Municipality.
According to some residents, the woman who lived in an uncompleted building at Dansam was pregnant, but she was not seen in the area again after giving birth.
Neighbours suspected something was wrong when a strong stench engulfed the area and upon a search, they found the lifeless baby in an abandoned manhole filled with water.
The incident was reported to the Police and the new mother was arrested during investigations.
A source at the Police station told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the woman was arrested in the early hours of Friday, December 09.
The suspect is currently assisting the Police in further investigations.
Godknows Tamakloe, a 22-year-old jobless guy, has been placed in custody following the suspected murder of David Korbla Klutsey.
Godknows, a resident of Agbozume in Ketu South, is accused of helping his stepbrother, Remember Tamakloe, stab the victim (David) on October 20, 2022, following a fight about GH-30.
Later, on October 23, David passed away while undergoing medical care at a hospital.
In his testimony before the Agbozume Magistrate’s Court, which was presided over by Mr. Issah Iddrisu, Police Chief Inspectorr Esperance Agbo said, “Remember sold a cell phone to the dead and was left with a balance of GH30.00.”
He said Remember and Godknows went to David for the money and in the process, a fight ensued between them and David slapped the suspect, who fell to the ground.
In the subsequent chaos, according to Chief Inspector Agbo, Godknows seized the victim from behind while Remember stabbed him.
The victim was brought to the hospital, where he passed away a few days later, while the stepbrother was detained and taken to the police station, according to the prosecutor.
Godknows, who was first charged on October 23, 2022, is scheduled to appear in court for the fourth time on December 20.
Rember Tamakloe on the other hand, is on the run after the incident.
Meanwhile, The deceased’s body has been placed in the Sacred Heart Hospital mortuary in Abor as it waits for an autopsy.
A woman who witnessed her boyfriendkill six members of his own family in February 2016 has been given a 25-year prison term, sources at the Chicago-Sun Times say.
25-year-old Jafeth Ramos pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery in connection with the 2016 killings, which were committed by her former boyfriend Diego Uribe. She admitted that she accompanied Urbe to his aunt Maria Martinez’s home in 2016, where he fatally shot her after demanding money. Uribe also beat her brother Noe Martinez Jr. to death, fatally stabbed their mother Rosaura Martinez, killed their 10-year-old and 13-year-old children, and killed Noe Martinez Sr. when he returned home. Ramos and Uribe were arrested in May 2016.
Ramos was facing almost 500 criminal counts in connection with the killings, but entered the guilty plea as part of a deal with Cook County prosecutors after agreeing to testify against Uribe, who was sentenced to life in prison last month. Uribe is not believed to have directly killed any of the six victims, but she was still described by authorities as an “active participant” in the killings. The pair stole an Xbox and approximately $550 in cash.
In court, she testified that she accompanied Uribe to the family’s home, and admitted that she did not call for help or try to leave during the ordeal. When she was sentenced on Tuesday, she declined to give a statement. She told jurors she accepted the plea deal in hopes she could see her son again.
She described how Uribe killed all of the family members, although his attorneys argued that he was present when the family was killed in a robbery by four masked men gone wrong.
On Friday, December 3, 2022, a female passenger was riding home late from a fun night out with some friends when her driver began acting extremely weird.
According to the victim who has only been identified as Diana, she said it was around 1:30 AM on Saturday when she was on her way back home, using the GIMPA bypass.
She explained that she had ordered for a car using the hailing service, Yango, but along the way, she noticed that her driver made a wrong turn.
Immediately, she said she drew his attention to it but got the response from the driver that he was only using a shorter route.
Speaking to GhanaWeb over the phone, she continued that while on the GIMPA road, the driver told her he wanted to attend to nature’s call and then he suddenly parked by the roadside.
“Suddenly, two men emerged from the bush and entered the car. Together with the driver, they then drove me into the bushes and asked for my monies and phone. With a knife pointed at me, I emptied my bag and handed everything to them.
“They then asked me to log out of my iCloud and subsequently took my mobile phone Mobile Money PIN from me,” she narrated.
Speaking from her hospital bed at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge Hospital), where she is receiving treatment ahead of a surgery, she said things did not end there.
Diana stressed that the driver then drove to a spot around the John Teye Memorial School and they forced her out of the car, and into the bushes.
She explained that they sexually molested her before harming her physically with a sharp object.
“Not satisfied, they drove me all the way to the bushes around John Teye Memorial School, and stripped me naked and threatened to kill me. They then inflicted deep cuts on my hands and in my palm before they fled the scene,” she said.
According to Diana, some inhabitants heard her shouts from the bush and came to her rescue. They then sent her to the Ridge Hospital.
The case was subsequently reported at the Ofankor Police Station, after her family had been informed of what happened.
The police have since confirmed receipt of the complaints and have assured that everything will be done to arrest the perpetrators.
So far, the police are on a hunt for the Yango driver and his two accomplices; who are on the run. They are being charged with robbery.
A FedEx driver who confessed to kidnapping and killing a seven-year-old Texas girl who had disappeared earlier this week has been arrested.
NBC News reports Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, was arrested Friday on charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. The victim, Athena Strand, disappeared on Wednesday evening from her father’s home in Paradise, Texas.
Horner is currently being held at Wise County Jail on a $1.5 million bond.
According to Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin, Horner was delivering a package at Strand’s father’s home at the time she disappeared.
Though a cause of death has not yet been revealed, police believe she “died by his hand,” with Strand’s death coming within an hour of her abduction.
“We knew early on in the investigation that there had been a FedEx driver, made a delivery in front of the house, about the same time that little Athena, 7-year-old Athena, came up missing,” Akin told reporters in a news conference Friday. “The driver abducted Athena, and from the investigative standpoint, digitally as well as interviews, we think Athena died within just the very hour or so after her departure from her home.”
FedEx addressed the news in a statement on Twitter Saturday morning.
A FedEx driver has been arrested after confessing to the kidnapping and killing of a seven-year-old Texas girl who had disappeared earlier this week.
NBC News reports Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, was arrested Friday on charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. The victim, Athena Strand, disappeared on Wednesday evening from her father’s home in Paradise, Texas.
Horner is currently being held at Wise County Jail on a $1.5 million bond.
According to Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin, Horner was delivering a package at Strand’s father’s home at the time she disappeared.
Though a cause of death has not yet been revealed, police believe she “died by his hand,” with Strand’s death coming within an hour of her abduction.
“We knew early on in the investigation that there had been a FedEx driver, made a delivery in front of the house, about the same time that little Athena, 7-year-old Athena, came up missing,” Akin told reporters in a news conference Friday. “The driver abducted Athena, and from the investigative standpoint, digitally as well as interviews, we think Athena died within just the very hour or so after her departure from her home.”
FedEx addressed the news in a statement on Twitter Saturday morning.
A serial murderer who was already serving a life sentence for the decades-old murdersof almost a dozen women has admitted to five more killings.
The Associated Press reports Richard Cottingham, who’s best known as the “Torso Killer,” pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the 1968 rape and killing of Diane Cusick. Cottingham also admitted to the slayings of four other women in Long Island’s Nassau County in 1972 and 1973.
Sentenced to 25 years to life behind bars for Cusick’s slaying, Cottingham received immunity for the other four murders due to a plea agreement.
“Today is one is one the most emotional days we’ve ever had the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office,” District Attorney Anne Donnelly told reporters. “In the case of Diane Cusick, her family has waited nearly 55 years for someone to be held accountable for her death.”
“It was only through advances in DNA technology that the NCDA and our partners at the Nassau County Police Department, could solve this 54-year-old cold case and identify a suspect in Ms. Cusick’s tragic death,” Donnelly added. “We make a promise to her surviving daughter today: we will bring her mother’s killer to justice.”
Believed to be one of America’s most prolific serial killers, Cottingham has claimed he’s responsible for up to 100 homicides. The 76-year-old has been imprisoned since 1980, following his convictions in 11 other killings.
At the time of Cottingham’s arrest in 1980, he was married with three children, while working as a computer programmer for a health insurance company in New York.
An Australian man who became the subject of a popular crime podcast has been jailed for 24 years for his wife’s murder.
Chris Dawson, 74, was convicted in August after decades of speculation about Lynette Dawson’s 1982 disappearance.
A judge ruled Dawson killedhis wife so he could continue his relationship with his teenage lover and babysitter.
His lawyer has indicated he is likely to appeal against the conviction.
Mrs Dawson was 33 when she vanished from her Sydney home. Her body is still missing and all the evidence in the trial was circumstantial.
In his sentencing remarks on Friday, Justice Ian Harrison said Dawson’s crime was “self-indulgent brutality” that “was neither spontaneous nor unavoidable”.
Justice Harrison said Dawson would be eligible for parole after 18 years, acknowledging it was likely he would die in prison.
Dawson was charged in 2018 after the podcast The Teacher’s Pet – by The Australian newspaper – garnered global attention and prompted a renewed investigation, helping build enough evidence to lay charges.
During the trial Dawson had denied having anything to do with his wife’s disappearance, maintaining she had abandoned him and their two children – possibly to join a religious group.
Justice Harrison said in August that the evidence against Dawson was “persuasive and compelling”, finding Dawson was obsessed with his teenage lover – who is known as JC for legal reasons. She was also a student at the school where Dawson taught and he wanted her as a “replacement” for his wife, the judge said.
The judge said Dawson had become increasingly desperate as previous plans to leave his marriage failed and JC had wanted to end their relationship.
In an earlier hearing, Dawson’s daughter Shanelle Dawson begged him to reveal the location of her mother’s body, saying: “Please tell us where she is.”
Ms Dawson was just four when her mother disappeared.
“The night you removed our mother from our lives was the night you destroyed my sense of safety and belonging in this world for many decades to come,” she said. “Why didn’t you just divorce her, let those who love and needed her keep her?”
Speaking after the sentencing, the victim’s brother Greg Simms said: “We really didn’t believe this day would ever come. What we need now is to find Lyn and put her to rest.”
When asked by reporters whether Dawson would now reveal her body’s whereabouts, his lawyer Greg Walsh said his client maintained his innocence.
In October this year, the New South Wales government passed laws to make it impossible for convicted murderers to be released on parole if they refused to co-operate and reveal the location of victims’ remains.
20-year-old Stephen Ansah is in the grip of the Assin Fosu police service for slashing the palm of a friend at Pomaa Pokuase, in the Assin Fosu Municipality of the Central Region.
Inspector Gilbert Ayongo, who confirmed the incident, said Mr. Emmanuel Appiah, 22, is currently fighting for his fingers at the Fosu Polyclinic.’
According to the Ghanaian Times newspaper, Inspector Gilbert Ayongo, a state prosecutor, disclosed that Emmanuel the victim, demanded his share of GH₵30 money they both worked for, but Ansah refused to give him his part, and this lingered on for two weeks.
He added that the victim, who desperately needed the money, reported the incident to Ansah’s father.
However, Ansah took exception to this and went to the victim’s home armed with a cutlass and attempted to stab the victim in the stomach.
As the suspect pulled the cutlass, the victim seized it with both hands, cutting parts of his fingers.
Ansah fled after wounding the victim but was later apprehended by the Assin Fosu Police Force after receiving a tip-off.
The report added that he will now be charged in court.
The Assin Fosu District Court remanded a 62-year-old farmer named Emmanuel Tetteh, who also works as a fetish priest at Assin Akwetey No2 in the Assin South District of the Central Region, for three weeks in police custody for allegedly killing his friend, Emmanuel Kofi Koranteng, during a fight on a cocoa farm.
Following a prayer by the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Gilbert Ayongo, the case was postponed to December 19, 2022 by the court presided over by His Worship Abdul Majid Iliasu.
The prosecution stated that the accused and the deceased shared a farm and were good friends before the accused accused the dead of stealing his pistol, which caused their friendship to break down.
On January 31, 2022, the deceased said he was going to his hometown of Larteh in the Eastern Region. However, after a week, a call to the town’s residents revealed that the deceased had not been there.
This sparked suspicion among Akwetey No2 residents, so on February 7, 2022, the local assemblyman and a few locals assembled a search team for the deceased in the village, where the body was found.
The search team proceeded to the deceased farm and found the decomposed body of the deceased, shirts, and Wellington boots, with the skull dislocated and lying a few meters away from their boundaries.
They highly suspected the accused who miraculously vanished from the village when the deceased went missing.
The prosecution said the police obtained an order from the court and declare the accused wanted after an official complaint about the case has been made to the police.
The Accused was published in the media for apprehension and on 18th November 2022,he was arrested at Twifo Hemang upon a tip-off and was brought to Assin Fosu to Assin in the investigation.
Meanwhile, forensic analysis conducted on the skeletal remains disclosed the deceased was shot in the abdomen, 4 pellets were subsequently found and same was kept for evidential purposes.
BACKGROUND
On 10th February 2022, Kasapa News Yaw Boagyan reported that a decomposed body of a farmer who went missing has been discovered in bizarre circumstances in a cocoa farm at Assin Akwetey-no. 2 in the Assin South District of the Central.
An eyewitness who doubles as Assemblymember of the area, Mr. Tetteh Robert in an interview said he owed the deceased some amount of money but had not had a glimpse of him for weeks so he decided to go search for him in his village only to discover his mortal remains with the skull dislocated and lying few meters away from the boundaries of the suspects and the deceased farm boundaries.
Though the cause of the death was not known immediately, they suspect one Emmanuel Tetteh who 3 days before the demise of the deceased had a misunderstanding with the deceased over a piece of land and a missing gun which resulted in a scuffle.
The suspect and his family including school children have left the village leaving his undried cocoa beans behind.
Kenya’s police watchdog, the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), says it has obtained a summons against Corporal Ahmed Rashidfor extrajudicial killing in broad daylight in Eastleigh suburb in the capital Nairobi in March 2017.
He gained notoriety after phone footage showed him gunning down two men in 2017.
Corporal Rashid is known to have used social media platforms to warn individuals he claimed had broken the law.
The decision to charge him follows months of investigations by the IPOA. Corporal Rashid was believed to be among a group of police officers known as the Pangani Six who drew both praise and condemnation from Kenyans for how they handled criminal gangs in the city.
The move to charge him comes weeks after thegovernmentannounced the disbandment of an elite squad accused of killings, torture, extortion and abductions of dozens of Kenyans.
Eleven officers from the unit are facing multiple charges in court, including over the disappearance of two Indian nationals and their driver in July.
IsaacGodiga, a 35-year-old farmer has met his untimely death after he was stabbed several times in the chest and stomach at Assin Akropong in the Assin Fosu Municipality of the Central Region.
Information gathered by Kasapa News, Yaw Boagyan revealed the deceased confronted the suspect over his missing Samsung Galaxy mobile phone after he received information that the suspect and his friends had gone out looking for a buyer of the same missing mobile phone.
A serious altercation broke out between them in the process and the suspect who was already wielding weapons including a knife inflicted deep wounds on the deceased.
He died while being transported to the hospital for treatment. The body has since been deposited at the St. Francis Xavier Hospital Morgue pending investigations.
The deceased is said to have earlier made an official complaint to the Assin Akropong Police Command after he received intel that the phone was with the suspect and his friends, but the police officer on duty ordered the complainant, now deceased to get the suspect arrested since the police officers on duty at the time were not enough to go out of the station.
Consequently, the Assin Fosu Divisional Commander Chief Superintendent Edith Gaanu including the Divisional Crime Officer, DSP Daniel Darko, and the District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Cephas Arthur, and a team of police officers paid a visit to commiserate with the bereaved family and assured them that the circumstances surrounding the death of their relatives will be probed transparently and professionally.
They also called on the youth to remain calm and not to resort to violence as the police are forever ready to address their concerns.
Meanwhile, one of the suspects has been arrested and is in police custody assisting with the investigation.
Police in Indiahave arrested the parents of a young woman for allegedly murdering her and disposing of her body near an expressway.
On Friday, the woman’s body was discovered wrapped in plastic and stuffed in a red suitcase near Mathura in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
Her father, Nitesh Kumar Yadav, and mother, Brajbala, have not yet made any statements.
The police say they are treating the case as a suspected “honour killing”.
Honour killings – or crimes committed against people who are perceived as breaking age-old traditions – are reported regularly in India.
The victims are mainly young men and women who fall in love or marry against their families’ wishes outside of their caste or within their sub-caste.
The victim, Aayushi Chaudhary, was studying at a private college in Delhi, where she lived with her family, police said.
In a detailed press release on Monday, police alleged that the 22-year-old’s father murdered her on 17 November after a fight over her marriage with a man from another caste. They alleged that the parents packed the body in a suitcase and left it near the Yamuna expressway at night.
After the body was discovered a day later, a post-mortem was carried out which revealed injury marks on the woman’s head, face and other body parts, police alleged, adding that she died after being “shot twice in the chest”.
They have seized the father’s licensed gun and the car allegedly used in the crime.
Tennessee police have made another arrest in connection to Young Dolph’s murder.
According to WREG, Jermarcus Johnson surrendered to authorities on Friday afternoon, just hours after he was publicly identified as a suspect. Police said Johnson was wanted for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and called on the public to help locate the 25-year-old man.
The arrest came one year after Dolph—born Adolph Thornton Jr.—was fatally shot on Nov. 17 2021 at Makeda’s Homemade Cookies in his hometown of Memphis. Two suspects, Justin Johnson and Cornelius Smith, were taken into custody shortly after; and a third suspect, Hernandez Govan, was arrested on Thursday, which marked the one-year anniversary of Dolph’s death. All three men were hit with multiple charges, including first-degree murder.
Authorities say Justin Johnson and Smith carried out the shooting, which was allegedly ordered by Govan. They believe Jermarcus Johnson helped Justin Johnson evade police following the attack.
“We’re alleging that he helped one of the shooters escape and he helped one of the shooters receive money for the solicited murder,” Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy told NBC affiliate WMC.
Justin Johnson, Smith, and Govan have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Govan’s next court date is scheduled for Dec. 16. The other two suspects are expected to return to court in January. It’s unclear if the co-defendants will be tried together.
A 55-year-old man has allegedly stabbed his younger sister to death at Atwima Twedie in the Atwima Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti Region.
The suspect, Osei Kwawu, reportedly stabbed her sister about ten times after the deceased, Akua Akyiaa, 50, declined a request by his brother to give him a ride in her car.
Speaking to OTEC News Kwame Agyenim Boateng, Mr. Kwame Owusu Adomako, an uncle to both the suspect and the deceased said the sad incident occurred on Wednesday, November 16, 2022.
“I met them for a short meeting after the two had some misunderstanding on that faithful day, my nephew Osei Kwaku was furious after her sister declined to take him to the hospital for a review in her car”.
“After resolving the matter, the two went to the house of the deceased where the incident occurred”
“I was told the suspect went straight to the kitchen for a knife and immediately pounced on her little sister and begun to stab her indiscriminately”
“She was pronounced dead upon arrival at a hospital”.
The suspect however was arrested by police immediately after the act and will be sent to court.
He sexually assaulted the law graduate and made off with her mobile phone, keys and handbag, the court heard.
Emergency services were called at 2.44am after she was found with severe head injuries, partially naked and struggling to breathe on Cranbrook Road in Ilford, east London.
Paramedics took the victim to the Royal London Hospital where she later died from her injuries.
The Metropolitan Police described the murder as an “opportunist stranger attack”.
CCTV from the night of the killing showed McSweeney following several women before fixating on Ms Aleena.
He had been released from prison on licence just nine days before the murder after serving time for burglary offences.
McSweeney was arrested by police at his home where they found a bag containing blood-stained clothes.
A man has mistakenly shot his 12-year-old nephew to death at Mankuma, a farming community in the Bole district of the Savannah region.
According to a myjoyonline.com report, the boy was left in the care of his uncle, who was on his way to the farm, by his mother.
However, on their way to the farm on a motorbike, the uncle mistakenly clicked a locally manufactured gun trigger that he was carrying, leading to the instant death of his nephew.
The deceased has since been buried.
Meanwhile, the Bole district police command has commenced an investigation into the matter.
The families involved have also indicated that they want to settle the case without any police interference.
Prosecutors have alleged that two Iowa teenagers who killed their high school Spanish teacher did it after they were frustrated by their poor grades, CBS News reports.
Documents filed on Tuesday allege that teens Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale murdered 66-year-old Nohema Graber at their school in Fairfield, with evidence showing they plotted the murder due to their poor performance in Graber’s class.
A lawyer for one of the suspects has asked for four search warrants to be invalidated, as well as the suppression of evidence found in the the suspect’s home, information on his cellphone and social media, and comments he made to police.
“The poor grade is believed to be the motive behind the murder of Graber which directly connects Miller,” read the court documents, filed by Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding and Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown. Miller previously denied being involved with the murder, but “later stated he had knowledge of everything but did not participate.” He alleged that a “roving group of masked kids” killed Graber, and forced him to get a wheelbarrow to move her body.
Graber was found dead under a tarp in a Fairfield park on Nov. 3, 2021. The two students were 16 at the time of the murder. Evidence showed that she had been beaten to death with a baseball bat by the teens. According to investigators, Miller met with Graber to discuss his grades the day before her body was found. Witnesses saw Graber’s van leave the park, with two males in the front seats, on Nov. 2. The van was later left at the end of a nearby road.
Photos of a Snapchat conversation apparently confirm Goodale admitted he participated in the murder of Graber. The two suspects, now 17, will be tried as adults. They are facing life in prison.
Jemma Mitchell, 38, became the first woman in England and Wales to be sentenced live on television for the murder of Mee Kuen Chong, 67, and the disposal of her headless body in woods more than 200 miles away.
A woman was sentenced to 34 years in prison for murdering and decapitating her friend in a money dispute.
Jemma Mitchell, 38, became the first woman in England and Wales to be sentenced live on television for killing Mee Kuen Chong, 67, also known as Deborah, and dumping her headless body in some woodland in Salcombe, Devon, more than 200 miles away.
Sentencing her on Friday, Judge Richard Marks KC described her as “extremely devious”.
“You have shown absolutely no remorse,” he told her at the Old Bailey. “It appears you are in complete denial as to what you did, despite the overwhelming evidence against you.
“The enormity of your crime is profoundly shocking, even more so given your apparent religious devotion as well as the fact that Deborah Chong was a good friend to you and had shown you good kindness,” he said.
Judge Marks said Mitchell and her mother were living in a house in Willesden, northwest London, and had been cheated out of most of the £230,000 they paid two builders to add another floor to the property.
Image:Mee Kuen Chong, who was also known as Deborah
Mitchell denied having anything to do with her death and declined to give evidence during the trial.
Jurors viewed CCTV footage of Mitchell arriving at Ms Chong’s home in Wembley, northwest London, carrying a large blue suitcase on the morning of 11 June last year.
More than five hours later, she emerged from the property with the suitcase appearing bulkier and heavier.
Judge Marks said: “That large suitcase contained Deborah Chong’s body. I have no doubt that you killed her when inside her house.”
CCTV of Mitchell with the blue suitcase in London
After Ms Chong’s lodger reported her missing, Mitchell claimed she had gone to visit family friends “somewhere close to the ocean”.
The prosecution said Mitchell stored her remains in the garden of the house she shared with her retired mother until 26 June when she put the suitcase in a car she had hired and drove down to Devon.
Image:Woodlands in Salcombe, Devon where Ms Chong’s remains were found
Image:The blue suitcase used to transport Ms Chong’s body
Headless body found by holidaymakers
On her way to Salcombe, Mitchell was forced to drive into a service station after the car blew a tyre. A repairman who changed the wheel described an “odd musty smell” inside the vehicle, jurors heard.
After the delay, she dumped her body and her head near Bennett Road in Salcombe.
Ms Chong’s headless corpse was found by holidaymakers the next day. Her skull was recovered a few metres away from the body following a police search.
A post-mortem examination confirmed that Ms Chong had suffered a skull fracture along with other injuries consistent with an assault.
Experience in dissecting bodies
The court heard Mitchell and Ms Chong, who met through church,had exchanged several messages about renovating Mitchell’s home.
They were both “devout Christians”, the judge added.
Mitchell decided to murder her victim after she pulled out of giving her the £200,000 to pay for the refurbishment of her £4m home.
The judge said Ms Chong had a “serious history of mental illness”, was on anti-psychotic medication, and was “particularly vulnerable, both mentally as well as physically” before she died.
He also said as part of her degree in human sciences from King’s College London, Mitchell “was taught anatomy” and “had experience in the dissection of human bodies”.
“That no doubt stood you in good stead,” he said.
Judge Marks said there were three aggravating factors to Mitchell’s crimes – her planning, her victim’s vulnerability and “the chilling aspect” of what she did to the victim’s body after she died.
She had a previous conviction for breach of a non-molestation order, but was of “effective previous good character”.
Following her conviction, Detective Chief Inspector Jim Eastwood, who led the investigation, said: “Mitchell has never accepted responsibility for Deborah’s murder so there are questions which remain unanswered.
“Why she kept her body for a fortnight, why she decapitated her, why she deposited her remains in Salcombe.
“What we do know is that these were evil acts carried out by an evil woman and the only motive clearly was one of financial gain.”
The Assemblyman for Denkyira Obuasi, William Baah, who is standing trial together with 13 others for their respective roles in the lynching of Major Maxwell Mahama, has said he did not order the killing of the young military officer.
William Baah, who is the first accused person, also told the Court that the late Major Mahama “did not give me a chance to find out who he was.”
The Assemblyman, who is also a teacher and referred to by many as Misty, has denied the charge of abetment, with the 13 others also pleading not guilty to the charges of conspiracy and murder.
Mounting his defence to the charge of abetment, William Baah told the High Court in Accra that he tried to know major Mahama’s mission in the town, but he “pointed a gun at me.”
Being led by his lawyer George Bernard Shaw to give his Evidence-in-Chief, William Baah said his responsibility as an Assemblyman is to protect lives in the area, including “strangers.”
“I am in Assemblyman for Denkyira Obuasi. It is my responsibility to protect the lives of the people in the community and even strangers,” he told the Court.
“It is not my intention to harm anyone, and when the incident happened, I tried to go and ask the victim (Major Mahama) who he was and what his mission in the town was.
“Since he did not give me the chance to find out who he was but rather pointed a gun at me, I had no option than to go to the police station to report for the police to come for him,” the accused told the Court.
According to him, “as at the time I was going to the police station, no one had touched the victim or abused him verbally.”
No order to murder
“What I have been charged with by the police is that I have abetted the killing of the deceased. I did not order anyone to use a stick or gun to murder the deceased.
He added that “When I was going there, I was not holding any stick or cutlass or gun” and “since I was born, till I got to JHS level, I have never gotten into a fight before, and I had never seen my parents fighting.”
The accused also told the Court that “it would be very difficult for me as an assemblyman to incite people to pick up weapons to attack any person and kill that person.”
He concluded his Evidence-in-Chief, saying “I do not know anything about what I have been charged with.”
Call to Police Commander
William Baah had told the Court that, after he had made enquiries about where the gun major Mahama was holding after the incident, he called the police commander.
“I called the Police Commander, and I told him I have been trying to reach him on the phone but have not been able to get through to him, and I told him what had happened.”
The Police Commander he said confirmed to him that the person had died after he was conveyed to the hospital.
He told the Court that, after the crowd at the crime scene had cleared, he left back to school.
Fear and panic
William Baah also told the Court that a friend of his at Diaso called and informed him that he had heard that the person who died was a soldier.
This information, he said, led to some of the people in the town running away.
Explaining to the Court why the people were running away, he said, “in the beginning, they thought they had killed an armed robber, but when they heard that the victim was a soldier, they panicked and started to run away.
Commander advised me to go into hiding
“I called the police commander on phone and talked with him, and he told me now that it had been confirmed that the victim was a soldier, and they had come to his office.”
He added: “I asked him what would be done now and when the soldiers come to the town, they wouldn’t know who is who, so I should go into hiding for now.
“So, I left that town and went to a town called Ampa Abena in the Diaso District.”
He told the Court that he stayed at Ampa Abena for two days, but upon hearing his name mentioned on the radio, that he had run away and the police were looking for him for investigation, he called the Commander and disclosed his location, and they came for him.
Time with the Police
He told the Court that, after he was picked from his location, he was taken to the Cape Coast Police Station and interrogated.
He told the Court that, after interrogation, they took him to Police Headquarters handcuffed.
“They handcuffed me and made me sit at the edge of the seat with my toes suspended, and I was shaking, and anytime I try sitting properly, they scold me that we have killed a soldier.”
Statements, video
He also told the Court that he moved to another office after telling him that some people had come, and “they showed me a video of what had happened, and they asked me to show them where I was standing and the dress I was wearing.”
He said when he was brought back to the Cape Coast Police headquarters, some of the things that he said were not captured in his statement.
“After my statement was taken, it was read back to me, and I realised I said some things that were not taken down, so I told him (officer), so he slammed his hand on the table, and I panicked.”
He added that the officer told him, “I was not the one to show him how to do his work.”
The Court presided over by Justice Mariama Owusu, a Justice of the Supreme Court sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, has adjourned the sitting to October 31 for further Cross Examination.
Background
The late Major Mahama of the 5th Infantry Battalion, Burma Camp, Accra, was on duty at Denkyira-Obuasi, and on May 29, 2017, some residents allegedly mistook him for an armed robber and lynched him.
The mob had ignored his persistent plea that he was an officer of the Ghana Armed Forces.
The Assembly Member and 13 others are still in prison custody after they pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit crime, murder, abetment of crime and other charges.
They are Baah, Bernard Asamoah, alias Daddy, Kofi Nyame,a.k.a Abortion, AkwasiBoah, Kwame Tuffour, Joseph Appiah Kubi, Michael Anim and Bismarck Donkor.
Others are John Bosie, Akwasi Baah, Charles Kwaning, Emmanuel Badu, Bismarck Abanga and Kwadwo.
In a money dispute, a woman was found guilty of murdering and decapitating her friend.
Jemma Mitchell, 38, was charged with murdering devout Christian Mee Kuen Chong and disposing of her headless body more than 200 miles away in order to inherit hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Mitchell, an alternative therapist, hit the 67-year-old over the head with a weapon at her London home and left her decapitated and badly decomposed body in woods in Salcombe, Devon, two weeks later.
The prosecution claimed Mitchell had planned to murder the divorcee and fake her will to inherit the majority of her estate which was worth more than £700,000.
Jurors were told that Mitchell came up with the plan to murder her friend, known as Deborah after she backed out of giving her £200,000 to pay for repairs for Mitchell’s £4 million dilapidated family home.
Mitchell denied having anything to do with her friend’s death and declined to give evidence at her trial.
A jury at the Old Bailey deliberated for seven hours before finding Mitchell guilty of murder.
Detective Chief Inspector Jim Eastwood, who led the investigation, described it as a “truly despicable crime”.
A 46-year-old man, Kwabena Mawuli, has been arrested for allegedly raping and killing his former wife at Suminakese in the Kwahu District of the Eastern Region.
The victim, Yaa Kesewaa, and the suspect were married for five years without a child and have been divorced for the last five years.
According to a report by Onuaonline.com, a nephew of the deceased, Kwasi Ofori, said Kwabena Mawuli, on Friday, October 14, 2022, went to his farm where he shares a boundary with his ex-wife.
The suspect waited for Kesewaa to arrive and pounced on her, and forcibly had sex with her. The suspect, fearing that his victim would file a complaint, subsequently slashed the back of her neck with a cutlass.
Mawuli then sneaked back home but was spotted by some residents who were sceptical about his unusual early return from the farm.
The suspect, however, confessed to committing the crime after being picked up and interrogated over the death of his former wife.
