Six persons, including two army colonels, were sentenced to death in connection with the march killing, while four others were imprisoned for ten years.
A military court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has sentenced six persons to death, including two army colonels, in connection with the March murder of two Chinese mine employees.
Four other military personnel were sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Ituri Military Court on Friday.
All but one of those receiving the death sentence was a member of the military.
The two colonels are accused of planning an attack on a convoy in March, with the aim of stealing four gold bars and $6,000 in cash being transported by the victims, who were returning from a gold mine.
Verdict ‘serves as an example’
In the DRC, death penalties are regularly handed down but systematically commuted to life imprisonment.
“This must serve as an example for the black sheep in the armed forces,” Lieutenant Jules Ngongo, spokesman for military operations in the gold-rich Ituri province, told the AFP news agency.
Attacks on Chinese-managed mines and Chinese workers are not uncommon in resource-rich eastern DRC, which has been ravaged by militia violence for decades.
Last year, the DRC government placed security officials in charge of the administration of Ituri and neighboring North Kivu province in a bid to curb violence. However, the measure has failed to stop attacks.
A jealous man is currently in the grips of the police for killing the husband of his ex-wife at Edwinase-Munsunkwa, a community in the Wassa East District of the Western Region.
The suspect, whose name has been given as Kojo Arthur AKA Capo, is said to have committed the crime with his friend, Buabeng.
Confirming the incident to the host of Connect FM’s Omanbapa morning show, Nhyiraba Paa Kwesi Simpson, the Assembly member of Edwinase Electoral area, George Arthur, indicated that the suspect has three children with the ex-wife, Edufuwa.
“They were married but because of some personal reasons, they divorced. The lady moved on and met another man in the next community but it seems her ex-husband was still in love with her and decided to fight for her. She has no children with the new husband but they have been living happily until the sad incident happened,” he indicated.
According to him, the suspect in the late hours of Thursday, October 13, out of jealousy, went to the house of his ex-wife with his friend and committed the crime.
”They went there with a machete and other weapons. Immediately they got to the house of his ex-wife, they attacked her new husband and slashed his throat. Since there was no one to help, he died out of excessive bleeding. All efforts to transport him to the nearest hospital proved unsuccessful due to the bad nature of our roads,” he added.
The body of the deceased, Robert Osei, has since been deposited at the Jukwa Hospital whilst the suspect and his friend have been handed over to police for investigation.
“They decided to sneak out from the community after committing the crime but they were apprehended by some youth. They tied them up until the police arrived and handed them over. They are currently in the custody of the Atobiase Police Station in the same district” the Assmebly member indicated.
The police have arrested two suspected armed robbers and shot dead another on Thursday (13 October) at Asuofua Asamang in the Ashanti Region.
The deceased, who was later identified as Issaka Muniru was shot when he attempted to fire at the police in an operation. He was rushed to the hospital for treatment, but was pronounced dead on arrival.
The police also succeeded in arresting two of his accomplices, Kwaku Boateng alias Form Noede and Kojo Gyamfi.
“The two are currently in police custody and will be put before the court to face justice,” an official statement said.
The police retrieved a pistol, which was allegedly used to fire at the officers, and 13 rounds of live ammunition.
The deceased, Issaka Muniru and his robbery syndicate have been involved in a series of robberies within the Kumasi metropolis and its environs for years, the police said.
Brush with the law
Before his demise, Issaka Muniru was standing trial with three other accomplices Ernest Agyei Badu alias gangster, Rider, and MBY at the Nkawie Circuit Court for robbing one Pastor Emmanuel Barfour Awuah of Abuakwa Abakomadi at gun point on 26 May 2021, and making away with his two gold wrist watches, mobile phones and an unspecified amount of money.
Police say the deceased was granted bail by the court but he jumped the bail and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. His accomplices are still attending trial at the court.
“In another robbery where Issaka Muniru, now deceased, was named as the gang leader, three other members of his gang, Charles Kojo Fosu, Yaw Anim and Paul Osafo were arrested by the police but he managed to escape. The three suspects have since been remanded into prison custody,” said the statement.
Meanwhile, the statement commended the Ashanti regional police command, particularly, personnel of the regional intelligence and operations teams who conducted the operation.
“We would like to assure the public that we will continue to carry out our constitutional mandate of protecting life and property and maintaining law and order even at the peril of our lives,” the statement added.
A father-of-three was fatally stabbedoutside of his home by a 15-year-old kid. The boy has been imprisoned for life.
Described in court as an “obnoxious teenage troublemaker”, the youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will serve a minimum term of 15 years.
He was aged just 14 and subject to an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) when he attacked 45-year-old James Markham, in Chingford, east London, on 9 August last year.
Image:The 45-year-old was stabbed to death outside his home in Chingford
He had already breached his ASBO six times before fatally stabbing Mr Markham with an 18 knife.
The youth claimed to have acted in self defence but was found guilty of murder and having an offensive weapon following a trial at the Old Bailey in July.
On Friday, Judge John Hillen ordered the boy to be detained for life.
He described Mr Markham as “a hard-working stonemason with his own business who worked hard to support and bring up his family”.
He told the teenage killer: “You had not responded to attempts to divert you away from crime and antisocial behaviour.
“You regularly went missing.
“You have a low attendance record at school.
“Your foster parents could not prevent your behavior.
“You were out of control.”
He went on: “Your unhealthy interest in knives, antisocial behaviour, and violence against those who challenged you all came together on Chingford Mount on 9 August last year.”
Earlier, Mr Markham’s mother Anita described the impact of the “wicked” murder on them and the wider community.
She told the thug: “On 9 August 2021 you stabbed my son Jamie Markham three times and murdered him.
“You had nothing to say, not even ‘sorry, I did not mean it to happen’.
“You could not say it was an accident as you stabbed him three times.
“Taking my son’s life has broken me.
“Jamie is in my thoughts all the time, seeing him lying there knowing I could not patch him up like when he was a kid.
“Wanting so much to help him, bring him back to us.
“You can never replace a child.
“When Candice (Mr Markham’s partner) phoned and told me Jamie had been stabbed I had never thought that would be it and I would never be able to give him a hug and a kiss.”
Previously, Crispin Aylett KC had told jurors the defendant should never have been in the area of Chingford Mount at all on the day of the stabbing.
He said: “It is only too obvious that he cannot have thought that the criminal behaviour order was worth the paper it was written on.
“Just as he was not willing to abide by the terms of the order, so the evidence in this case suggests he was not someone who was prepared to let anyone tell him what to do.”
On August 9 last year, the boy and four friends went into an area behind shops near where Mr Markham lived with his family.
Mr Aylett had told jurors the victim and his family had become “increasingly exasperated” by groups of youths making a nuisance of themselves there.
A row broke out and two youths were said to have goaded Mr Markham before the defendant told a witness: “It’s alright mate. He’s going to get it.”
Mr Aylett said: “Provoked beyond endurance, there must have come a point when Jamie Markhamwanted to chase this obnoxious youth away from the area where he and his family lived – and, no doubt, make sure that he did not come back.”
The stonemason armed with a drill bit from his shed ran at the boy, swinging the tool to scare him off, jurors were told.
But the boy produced an 18-inch long blade and stabbed him in the armpit, neck and back before running away.
Mr Markham was helped back to his flat where he collapsed and died.
The defendant had dropped his mobile phone during the fight and it was later used by police to track him down.
Mr Aylett said the boy had a “miserable” criminal record, having been in court 12 times and convicted of 22 different offences.
In mitigation, Laurie-Anne Power KC said the boy had been affected by a lack of family presence or support as well as “neglect, abuse, and feelings of trauma and loss”.
She said her client offered “sincere regret for his actions”.
The Manager of Poly Changda Engineering Company, Xue Hui, has been denied bail by the Sekondi District Court.
The Chinese national was arrested last week for allegedly slashing the throat of his employee with a flip knife.
Appearing at the court on Monday, October 3, 2022, the suspect charged with attempted murder had his bail application denied by the presiding judge, Her Worship Nana Abena Asoh Owusu Omenyo.
According to the presiding judge, it behoves only a trial court to grant the accused person bail.
The prosecution, led by Superintendent Steve Addom, told the court that the complainant, Isaac Boateng, is a concrete mixer and an employee of Changda Engineering Company based in Takoradi and managed by the accused.
The prosecution said the complainant, on September 27, 2022, turned up to work at 7:00 in the morning and closed at 3:00 pm instead of 5:00 pm.
The complainant was confronted the following day by the accused person during lunch for closing earlier than usual the previous day.
This led to an exchange between the accused and the complainant causing Xue Hui to inform Isaac Boateng that he had been fired from the job.
The complainant packed his working attire and went to the accused person to pay him off.
Another exchange ensued between the two, and the accused person, without provocation, came out of his office wielding a flip knife with which he slashed the complainant’s throat.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for the accused person, Akpene Darko Cobbinah, according to a report by Onuaonline.com, has said that her client has since the incident shown remorse.
She stated that her client did not intend to cause harm to the victim while adding that the company, through the instrumentation of his client, is paying for all medical expenses.
However, according to the victim, he has been left traumatised by the incident.
“All that I was demanding was for my salary to be paid since he told me he had sacked me. Since the incident, my family members, especially my wife and kids, have always been crying. But I’m trusting that justice will be served”.
Meanwhile, the case has been adjourned to October 11, 2022, for committal proceedings.
Police are now urging William MacDowell to tell them what he did with the bodies of Renee and Andrew MacRae after they disappeared in 1976.
A married man who murdered his lover and her young son more than 45 years ago will likely die behind bars.
William MacDowell, 80, was sentenced to life in prison with a recommendation that he serves a minimum of 30 years for killing Renee and Andrew MacRae in November 1976.
MacDowell, of Penrith, Cumbria, killed the mother and son at a layby near Dalmagarry on the A9, about 12 miles south of Inverness.
Mrs MacRae’s BMW car was discovered on fire in the layby but the bodies have never been found.
This is despite a huge police investigation after the disappearances and further investigations in 1986, 2004, and 2018.
The double disappearance was one of the longest unsolved murder cases in Scottish criminal history.
Officers are now urging MacDowell to disclose what he did with Mrs MacRae and her son so they can be “provided with the dignity they deserve”.
Image:William MacDowell has been sentenced to life in prison for the murders more than 45 years ago
Murderer ‘wanted to hide affair’
MacDowell, who was married while having a relationship with Mrs MacRae, who was separated from her husband, had been trying to keep their four-year affair secret.
Alex Prentice KC said during the trial that MacDowell was the only man with a motive for killing the pair, as his concern grew that news of his affair would be revealed and what that would mean for his finances and lifestyle.
“Life for Bill MacDowell would change dramatically if it all came out in the open. He would lose his job, his family, and his home,” Mr Prentice said.
MacDowell, who was brought into court each day in a wheelchair by his wife Rosemary, claimed the murders were committed by Mrs MacRae’s estranged husband Gordon MacRae and others unknown.
Image:William MacDowell and Renee MacRae are pictured together in an undated photo
Murders were carried out in ‘most calculated way’
Mrs MacRae’s sister, Morag Steventon, said after the conviction: “Almost 46 years on, the pain of losing Renee and Andrew in such a cruel and brutal fashion never fades.
“Today there is finally justice for them. It’s a day we feared would never come.
“They were both so precious to us and a day never passes without them both in our thoughts.”
Passing sentence after MacDowell was found guilty of the murders at the High Court at Inverness, judge Lord Armstrong told him: “These murders appear to have been premeditated, planned, and carried out in the most calculated way – not a spontaneous event or spur of the moment.”
He added: “These appear, in effect, to have been executions.
“You murdered your victims and then disposed of their bodies and personal effects, including the boy’s pushchair.”
Image:Mrs MacRae’s burnt out BMW was found at the time of the disappearances
Police ‘sympathise with the frustrations of those who wanted the case solved sooner
MacDowell was also found guilty of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of the bodies and personal effects.
Operation Abermule, the latest investigation into the murders, was set up to find the killer and to discover the resting place of the pair’s bodies almost 46 years after they were killed.
So far, it has only achieved one of its aims – the conviction of MacDowell following his arrest in 2019.
It has involved more than 1,500 witnesses, many of them either deceased or no longer able to give evidence in court.
“There is no doubt that the team that we had from 2018 onwards uncovered evidence that hadn’t been focused on before,” said Detective Chief Inspector Brian Geddes, of Police Scotland.
“We have certainly improved the known circumstances around Friday, November 12 and beyond.”
The police officer said he could “sympathise with lots of frustrations why it’s taken so long” for a conviction.
But he stressed: “We have now achieved what we set out to achieve in 2018.
“And that’s in no small measure to what was carried out in 1976, 1987, 2004 onwards. That all helped us get to this point.”
Alexander Kareem, whose sister works for the Metropolitan Police, was fatally shot in June 2020 in west London after being mistaken for someone else. His brother Kabir has expressed concerns that he could be the target of his brother’s killer, who has never been brought to justice.
The brother of a man shot dead in an unsolved murder says he is living in fear of an attack by the killer who is still at large.
Alexander Kareem – whose sister is a serving Metropolitan Police officer – was gunned down near his home in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, in June 2020, in a case of mistaken identity.
Nine people, including a boy aged 16, were arrested over the 20-year-old’s death but have been released and told they will face no further action.
Alexander’s older brother Kabir, who lives near to where the murder happened, told Sky News he is “very likely to have crossed paths” with his sibling’s killer, or someone who knows who is responsible and is fearful about what their response might be.
It comes after Mr Kareem and his sister, PC Khafi Kareem – who has more than 1.4 million Instagram followers after appearing on Nigeria’s Big Brother – publicly appealed for anyone with information about their brother’s murder to come forward.
Mr Kareem said: “Given the fact the killers will know who I am because we’ve been publicly trying to seek justice, I have to be vigilant.
“I don’t know how they would react coming across me.
“It’s mentally draining. It’s something I’ve had to live with and learn to cope with.”
‘I don’t want to live a life in fear’
Mr Kareem, 29, said he had thought about moving to a different area but he did not want to be “pushed away”.
“I don’t want to live a life in fear and think I have to run away from what’s happened,” he added.
“People who need my support are here. I don’t think it would be right for me to leave.”
Alexander was on his way to a friend’s house on an e-scooter when he was attacked shortly after 12.30 am on 8 June 2020.
Police believe a white Range Rover drove past and shot him on Askew Road, Shepherd’s Bush, in a case of mistaken identity. The vehicle was later found burned out.
Sky News revealed earlier this month that hundreds of killings have gone unsolved in London in the last two decades – including incidents in which victims have been shot, stabbed, strangled, and drowned.
Mr Kareem said he was still hopeful his brother’s killer would be caught but is concerned “there doesn’t seem that much attention given to this investigation”.
Image: Kabir Kareem says he is ‘wary’ every time he leaves his house
“I will never give up hope,” he said.
“(The police are) saying they’re actively investigating it but honestly it doesn’t feel like that at the moment.”
‘Stuck in that place of grief’
Mr Kareem said his mother is “still in a dark place” more than two years after the murder of her son, who was described by his family as a “computer genius” and planned to go to university.
“We can’t move on as a family knowing no one has been held responsible for the murder,” he said.
“It keeps us stuck in that place of grief.
“It’s still hard to take. You do think about it every day. There’s not a day that goes past where you don’t think about him.
Image:Alexander was described by his family as a ‘computer genius’
“If I see someone who may resemble him – like a young boy with glasses – it brings up those memories and triggers certain thoughts.
“It does get you emotional.”
Asked whether he believed people know who killed his brother and have not come forward, he replied: “Most definitely.”
In a direct message to those people, Mr Kareem said: “You can’t protect the same people who are destroying our communities.
“(Alex) wasn’t involved in gangs… he was just a young person.
“It could have been anyone’s brother, it could have been anyone’s child.”
Image: Alexander’s sister Khafi (L) and mother Victoria (R) during his burial
Victim’s sister ‘angry’ over killer still at large
On the second anniversary of Alexander’s death in June, his sister Khafi said her brother was “murdered in cold blood on the streets of London” and her grief “felt like a dagger” to her chest.
“Two years on and still his murderers have not been found. This is not okay,” she said.
“It hurts me every day and is not getting any easier, I just find better ways to suppress my grief as time goes on, but every time it arises it is like a dagger to my chest afresh.”
Ms Kareem said news of “young black boys dying needlessly… trigger so much for me” and she was angered that the people responsible for her brother’s murder are “still walking the streets”.
“It makes me so, so angry,” she added.
“If you have any information on Alex’s death, it is not too late to speak up.”
On Sunday, shortly after 10 a.m. local time, Josiah Brown was declared deceased. He had been taken from the lake last Monday while in a severe state, and it had not been anticipated that he would make it.
Josiah Brown was pronounced dead shortly after 10 am local time (4 pm UK time) on Sunday.
He had been in a critical condition after being pulled from the lake last Monday and had not been expected to survive.
Image:Victoria Moreno. Pic: Chicago Police
Josiah was allegedly shoved by his aunt Victoria Moreno at Navy Pier, a fall of more than 6ft, and she then stood by as he sank below the water, according to authorities.
Divers found the boy at the bottom of the lake about half an hour later.
Moreno, 34, initially told officers she was only a witness, then claimed she was holding the youngster’s shirt and let go because he “was acting up,” NBC Chicago said, citing a police report and a source with knowledge of the investigation.She had slipped out of the family home in nearby Des Plaines with the boy on the morning of the incident while another aunt went to wake up her children and his grandmother went to change, according to prosecutors.
Moreno “stole the keys” to the family’s truck and “snuck out of the residence without anyone knowing that she had left,” prosecutors said, according to NBC Chicago.
The other aunt no longer heard the boy talking “and became alarmed,” prosecutors claimed. That was when she noticed Moreno and Josiah were gone, and a truck was missing.
Image:Emergency services at the scene at Navy Pier, Lake Michigan. Pic: NBC Chicago
Moreno was charged with attempted murder last week.
She was also charged with aggravated battery of a child under the age of 13 causing permanent disability.
The Cook County state’s attorney’s office did not immediately respond when asked if the charges against Moreno would be upgraded after Josiah’s death.
For over three weeks, the family of 25-year-old Georgina Asor Botchwey sat on edge following the disappearance of their daughter.
The last time they heard from Georgina, she had bid them farewell at Yeji in the Bono East Region, en route to attend an admission interview at the Ankarful Nursing Training School in the Central Region.
This was on September 7, 2022, and while concerns of her whereabouts and safety grew as the family frantically failed to reach her, an assurance came from her elder brother.
Alfred Duodu, her brother, gave his family assurances that Georgina – who comes after him, will be fine.
He assured them of his resolve to locate his sister and bring her back home safely.
In an interview with GhanaWeb, Alfred, who is a soldier with the Ghana Armed Forces, recounted his words of assurance to his mother over the disappearance of her daughter.
“Yes, I did assure her that whatever that it will take me, I will do to search for where my sister is,” he said.
He explained further to GhanaWeb’s George Ayisi that it became more than necessary to bring his professional expertise to bear in the search of his sister.
It was on the back of this that he made the vow to his mother, he added.
“In one of our conversations I was assuring her; I was giving her my support. So, I told her that this is the time that I will show that I am a soldier,” he added.
Alfred’s quest to find his sister began with the filing of a police report and using the media to seek the whereabouts of his missing sister.
“When I came and reported the case, they gave me a police report to do announcement, after the announcement I should come back,” he recounted.
Alfred however explained that all along, he had his suspicions. The subject of his suspicion was a fiancé of one of his sisters, who is a pastor.
Michael Amponsah alias Osofo Kofi, the would-be in-law of Alfred, resided at Mankessim in the Central Region, and was said to have requested to meet Georgina after she had concluded her interview.
As was later confirmed, Osofo Kofi indeed met up with Georgina at Mankessim after her interview.
“Looking at the whole case, I realised that the said Osofo from the initial stage, I didn’t trust him. So, from the initial stage, I thought that he has a hand in it but I couldn’t gather the confidence to tell the family that this man is behind it.
“I followed the sequence of what ensued – the whole issue. In my conclusion, I understood that he was the one behind the whole thing. So, I tried using my intelligence as to how to get him with the help of one police CID. We hunted for him, we laid ambush on him and by the grace of God, we were able to arrest him,” the soldier said.
While his hopes were still high, he got sorely disappointed when their investigations led to the exhumation of her dead body.
Her body was retrieved from the house of Nana Onyaa Clark, a local chief and an accomplice to Osofo Kofi.
Watching the nearly decomposed body of his sister being brought out of the ground, Alfred Duoduo recounted how disappointing it felt to have partially failed his quest to find her alive and return her home.
“I didn’t take that lightly; in fact, I couldn’t control myself when I saw my sister in that state. Because our whole prayer was that we find my sister alive,” he stated.
The effects of the discovery of his sister cumulated into a state of self-blame for Alfred whose ultimate mission was to bring Georgina to their mother alive.
“So at a point in time, I felt that I was late in rescuing her. If I had the opportunity, I would have done that earlier. But things didn’t go the way I expected. I felt disappointed that I allowed all those things to happen,” a distraught Alfred said.
He added that he has however taken solace in having been able to eventually locate because it saves his family the pain of living in the anxiety of never knowing her whereabouts.
“But anyway, that is destiny so we thank God and I am so accomplished that even though we were not able to get her alive, we’ve been able to see or locate her. At least, it will take that anxiety on the family away,” he added.
Aside that, Alfred is confident that justice will be served for Georgina’s rather painful death, through the prosecution of her murderers.
“From the look of things, everything is in order and I know for sure that we will get justice for her,” he stated.
Alfred yearned for nothing less than an opportunity for his sister to realise her dream of entering a nursing school.
His wish for his sister was the highlight of their final conversation which took place a few days before Georgina’s birthday.
“We have a good personal relationship. Especially I remember the day she was in a car coming for the interview, I spoke to her and I encouraged her. The day after the interview was her birthday; her birthday was on the 8th of September so I remember I called her, we spoke and I wish her well that when she returns, we will meet and talk more. But she went there and the unfortunate happened. Since then, I’ve been calling her line and it was switched off,” Alfred explained, while recalling what a close relationship he had with Georgina.
Earlier reports indicated that Osofo Kofi sold his fiancé’s sister to his accomplice for money rituals.
This was confirmed by Alfred who shared details of the confessions of the two suspects to the police.
“Their main aim was to use her for money rituals. That is their main, it was for money rituals and they have confirmed that” he noted.
On May 17, 2021, Oliver Muldowney, 36, stabbed Tim Hipperson, 39, in Richmond, London, after accusing him of having sex with his partner.
Judge Shani Barnes at the Old Bailey said Muldowney had an “unstable and erratic” personality and ordered him to serve at least 29 years in jail.
The attack happened while children were being picked up from a nearby school.
‘Unpredictable’
“The number of people who rushed to Mr Hipperson’s aid were largely parents picking up their children from school.
“This was an area – in public – where there were a lot of people in the middle of the day and there were children all around, so that is in my view an aggravating factor,” added the judge.
The trial also heard Muldowney told an eyewitness “you saw nothing” as he walked away from the attack, just before 16:00 BST.
Police body-worn camera footage caught the victim naming his killer as “Olly”.
Muldowney, a prominent drug dealer in Richmond, fled the area but was arrested by police days later.
Mr Hipperson, who was trying to beat his addiction, had to gone to buy drugs with a friend from Muldowney’s drugs runner on the day of his murder.
Muldowney later unsuccessfully tried to bribe Mr Hipperson’s friend with drugs and money to leave the area.
IMAGE SOURCE, METROPOLITAN POLICE/PA Image caption, Oliver Muldowney was a prominent drug dealer in Richmond
“It is clear you are a man who is unpredictable and was to be feared.
“What was extraordinary was that you believed you were so powerful that no one would speak out against you.”
Mr Hipperson’s mother, Sheila, said her son’s murder was made “all the crueler” because it happened in a period of his recovery from drug addiction.
She told the court in a victim statement: “Tim had emerged from years of addiction and was taking huge steps to beat his illness.”
In a statement to the court, Muldowney apologised to Mr Hipperson’s friends and family.
Muldowney was found guilty of murder and perverting the course of justice, having admitted dealing in crack cocaine and heroin.
His drug runner Jonathan Nash, 36, of Feltham, west London, was jailed for three and a half years after being found guilty of two counts supplying heroin and crack cocaine.
Four persons seized in connection with the murder of a newly wedded woman at Abeka, an Accra suburb, have appeared before a Kaneshie District Court.
The four: Imoro Salfu Zakaria, Adams Salfu Zakaria, Amdiya Mohammed and Abass Mohammed, are said to have conspired and murdered Muniratu Moro a few days after she was married off.
The four are facing charges of conspiracy to commit a crime to wit murder and murder.
The Court preserved their pleas.
The court presided over by Mr Oheneba Kufour, a Circuit Court Judge sitting with additional responsibilities as a Magistrate has admitted the accused persons to bail in the sum of GHC 300,000 with three sureties to be justified.
The matter has been adjourned to October 20.
During the Court’s sitting, the prosecution led by Inspector Apeweh Achana opposed the request for bail for the accused, with the explanation that the matter was under investigation.
During the sitting, tempers flared as relatives and sympathizers of the accused stormed the court. The Police had a hectic time controlling the crowd.
Defence counsels prayed for bail for their clients.
The deceased was said to have been stabbed to death barely 10 days (about 1 and a half weeks) after she was wedded at a colourful ceremony on August 28, 2022.
The accused persons were picked up by the police days after the alleged murder and arraigned.
The recent news of the murders that have taken place inWa and Mankessim, like those that have once flooded news headlines in Ghana before, have given rise to a lot of questions about the security situation in thecountry.
Unsettled as they are, these cases have also brought to bear the fact that there have been quite too many instances like that where people have either died or been killed through mysterious means.
In an attempt to chronicle some of the cases of murders (ritual murders) that have heralded news headlines in the country, particularly in 2022, GhanaWeb has put together this list of some of the most gruesome killings that happened in various parts of the country.
Wa killings, Upper West:
Residents of the Wa Municipality in the Upper West Region have been living in fear with a risingspate of murders targeting private security officers.
The number of victims is inching towards a dozen, with the most recent having been discovered on Tuesday, September 20, 2022.
In five months, ten lives have been lost in bizarre circumstances to ‘serial killers’ in the region.
Last Friday, September 16, 2022, some residents showed up in their numbers at the Wa Technical Institute to protest the security situation there.
Out of the ten people who have lost their lives, only three bodies have so far been found.
The police have since ramped up efforts to arrest the situation and to assure the population of adequate security, with the Inspector-General of Police, COP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, visiting the region.
According to additional details, in the case of the latest victim, his eyes and tongue had been removed. The day after, Tuesday, September 19, another body was exhumed with his kidney, heart, and private parts missing.
Bole, Savannah:
In January 2022, the body of a middle-aged man was found in an uncompleted building at Mempeasem in Bole.
On February 6, 2022, the decomposing body of a man was found in an uncompleted building.
In both cases, the men were found with only their elbows visible while the rest of their bodies were in the ground.
Mankessim, Central Region:
A chief and a pastor confessed to killing and burying an aspiring nurse at Mankessim in September 2022.
The duo is said to have dug a pit in the chief’s house, which is under construction, and buried the lady there.
The pastor, Michael Darko Amponsah, who turned out to be the fiancé of the deceased’s sister, was arrested at Cape Coast and he immediately confessed to the crime.
He then led the police to the house of his accomplice, Nana Onyaa Clark, a local chief, where the body was retrieved.
Along with her body, the police also retrieved her bag, her shoes, and other belongings.
Cape Coast, Central Region:
In May 2022, a level 300 Marketing student of the Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU), Nana Ama Clark, was found dead at the Ola Estate near the Ola College of Education.
Her body was found on the roadside at Ola Estate near the Ola College of Education, Cape Coast, with her private part cut off, and bruises on her body.
At Beposo, near Kuntunase, also in the same region, four persons were arrested for murdering a 23-year-old man in January 2022.
The suspects are reported to have tied the deceased with a rope and hit him with clubs until he became unconscious and subsequently died.
Adukrom, Eastern Region:
Between August 30 and September 1, 2022, three teenage Junior High School girls were found dead at Okrakwodwo along the Adukrom-Koforidua Highway in the Okere District.
It is alleged that they left their homes to visit some young men in another community around 11:30 pm before they met their untimely deaths.
At Odumase Krobo on September 12, 2022, a 60-year-old physically-challenged man was murdered and set ablaze in an arson attack.
He was allegedly clubbed before a makeshift structure he was sleeping in, was set ablaze by the arsonist(s) in a protracted land dispute.
Zakoli, Northern Region:
At Zakoli in April 2022, more than eight people were killed and several missing after an attack on a village of Fulani herders.
The town, near Yendi, is said to have been surrounded by gunmen at about 1 pm.
A woman, who survived the attack because she was told she was a woman, said the gunmen separated the women and children to one side and killed only the men.
She explained that most of the men were shot at close range while the attackers burnt down the entire settlement and left others with machete injuries. Dozens of livestock were killed and looted with motorcycles and other properties.
Bono Region:
In August 2022, angry youth of Adoe, a farming community in the Sunyani West Municipality, descended on Fulani herdsmen and killed nearly 100 cattle.
On March 31, 2022, a 20-year-old ‘pragyia’ rider was allegedly murdered by unknown assailants.
The deceased, a student of Chiraa Senior High School, was allegedly hired by some three men to take them to Bodamnii Nkwanta.
The deceased was killed on the way while he was transporting the passengers to their destination.
On July 8, 2022, at Prenkoase, a suburb of Sunyani in the Bono Region, a man believed to be between 25-30 years, was found lying in a pool of blood on the side of the road.
Ashanti Region:
In September 2022, at Konongo, three suspects were arrested over the murder of a 15-year-old girl.
The body of the deceased, identified as Regina Sarfo, was found dumped in a bush at Ahenbrom, a suburb of Konongo on September 8, 2022.
At Benebene, near Fianko, two people were arrested for allegedly murdering a final-year student of the Tweneboah Kodua SHS.
The deceased, who operated a motorcycle business at Odaho during school holidays, was allegedly attacked at Benebene near Fianko.
At Konongo in the Asante Akyem area, in May 2022, some ‘sakawa boys’ allegedly murdered a 22-year-old girl.
Body parts were removed before her body was dumped in a river.
Western North Region:
In July 2022 at Sefwi Bekwai, three people were arrested in connection with the murder of a 27-year-old woman at Sefwi Bekwai Atwumah.
The deceased, Martha Tetteh, a resident of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, had travelled to Sefwi Bekwai on Monday, June 27, 2022, to allegedly consult a spiritualist.
Her headless body was later found in an uncompleted building at Sefwi Bekwai.
Volta Region:
On June 16, 2022, at Kpetoe in the Agortime Ziope District, a man was killed and his body was found without its head.
The deceased, identified as Apetor Yesu, was a homeowner and was allegedly approached by the suspect for accommodation after he was left stranded in Kpetoe.
It was reported that after escorting the suspect out of the house, however, Apetor Yesu never returned.
Also at Kpetoe in June 2022, the police arrested John Adonu, a welder, for his suspected involvement in the killing of an 85-year-old man, Joseph Tawiah Darko.
The 85-year-old deceased had earlier been reported to have gone missing on June 14, 2022, after he left the house a day earlier.
His decapitated body was discovered under a tree on his farm on June 15, 2022.
Greater Accra Region:
While this is not a case of murder or a killing, in June 2022, at Amasaman, a Ghanaian returnee was arrested after he was captured on video trying to use his 11-year-old daughter for money rituals.
Unfortunately for him, the traditional priest he sent the girl to gave him out, explaining that he was not a fetish priest who demands human sacrifices.
At Abeka on September 7, 2022, a newly-married woman was allegedly murdered in cold blood.
The woman, identified as Muniratu Moro, who entered the marriage as a second wife, was found lifeless in a pool of blood.
It was discovered too that there was a cut on her throat and her thigh.
“She was killed in her room and then dragged into her rival’s room, the way she died was not natural and we need to know how she was murdered,” the brother of the deceased, Mohammed Samba said.
These are but a few of the cases available to GhanaWeb as of the time of going to press but there are many more that are not captured here.
The 24-year-old, who performed the role of Jeffery Augustine in the Riverdale teen drama, was given a sentence on Wednesday in British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver.
He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, after having initially been charged with first-degree murder.
Prosecutors said he had also plotted to kill Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau.
Grantham admitted to shooting his mother in the back of the head as she played piano in their home, north of Vancouver, the court heard.
‘I killed my mother
In a video taken on his Go-Pro camera after the killing, the Canadian actor filmed his mother’s body while saying: “I shot her in the back of the head. In the moments after, she would have known it was me.”
After drinking beer and smoking marijuana for hours following the murder, he packed a car with three guns, ammunition, and 12 Molotov cocktails he had made, as well as camping supplies and directions to Mr Trudeau’s Rideau Cottage residence.
He drove roughly 200 kilometers east to the town of Hope, before turning around and driving to a Vancouver police station, where he told an officer: “I killed my mother.”
The court also heard Grantham had considered committing an act of mass violence at Vancouver’s Lions Gate Bridge or at Simon Fraser University, where he had been a student, en route before turning his car around and handing himself in.
Former child actor Grantham appeared in one episode of the CW network show Riverdale in 2019 and was also featured in the fantasy drama Supernatural, as well the 2010 film Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Grantham has been in custody for the past two and a half years, law enforcement officials in Vancouver told Deadline and has been participating in a mental health program since his arrest.
During the trial, his lawyers argued he had been struggling with anxiety and clinical depression and had expressed a desire to kill himself and harm others in the months leading up to him killing his mother.
A man targeted by a gunman in the shooting that killed nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel is due to face further questioning about her murder.
Olivia was shot as her mother struggled with two men, one with a gun, at her home in Liverpool on Monday night.
The intended victim of the shooting has been named as 35-year-old Joseph Nee, a convicted drug dealer.
Police have not publicly identified Nee, but said a man had been detained and would be interviewed.
Nee, who was also shot, was previously jailed for drug offences, and in 2018 for three years and nine months for burglary.
He also has previous convictions for theft of a motor vehicle, dangerous driving, driving without insurance and driving while disqualified.
On Wednesday, Merseyside Police said a 35-year-old man injured in the shooting would be recalled to prison for allegedly breaching the terms of his licence conditions with “poor behaviour”.
The man, who was in a stable condition, had been detained in hospital and would be “further questioned” in connection with Olivia’s death, the force said.
Police said, in the hunt for the gunman, officers had been given the same name by two different sources.
A Liverpool city councillor told the BBC earlier that information “was coming into the police” but encouraged more people to come forward.
Liam Robinson said it was “absolutely vital in these early days” that any details were passed on.
Det Ch Supt Mark Kameen said Olivia’s death, as well as the recent shootings of 28-year-old Ashley Dale in Old Swan and 22-year-old Sam Rimmer in Dingle, were all “receiving first-class treatment and will continue to do so”.
He said the force was “absolutely dedicated” to ensuring there were sufficient resources to investigate each case and police raids carried out across Liverpool on Wednesday were in response to the deaths and organised crime.
He said: “We’re proactive, we’re hard-edged and we’ll take the fight to the criminal.”
Ukrainian officials have ridiculed Russia’s accusation that its special services were behind the killing of Darya Dugina, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist, in a car-bomb attack.
A memorial service for Ms Dugina, 29, was taking place in Moscow on Tuesday.
Ms Dugina, a commentator on a Russian nationalist TV channel, died when her car blew up on the outskirts of Moscow.
Her influential father, Alexander Dugin, may have been the intended target of the attack. His expansionist ideas of a New Russia or “Novorossiya” on Ukrainian territory are said to have influenced President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
President Putin condemned the “cruel and treacherous” attack and posthumously awarded Ms Dugina the Order of Courage.
Her 60-year-old father paid tribute to her as a “rising star at the start of her journey”. She was brutally murdered in front of him by Russia’s enemies, he said, and he went on to call for victory over Ukraine. Ms Dugina’s memorial service took place at Russia’s Ostankino TV centre on Tuesday morning.
In Kyiv, the security and defence council secretary said Ukraine had nothing to do with the bombing: “We have more important tasks for our boys and girls… The FSB did this and is now suggesting that one of our people did it,” he was quoted as telling Ukrainian TV.
Presidential office adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, said Russian “propaganda lives in a fictional world”, adding that the car bombing was part of a struggle within Russia’s special services.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had solved the case and blamed Ukraine directly. Its claims were widely reported by state TV, and pro-Kremlin commentators called for immediate revenge.
The Russian outcry came as Ukraine prepared to mark 31 years of independence on Wednesday, which coincides with six months since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began.
The US state department has warned that Russia is stepping up efforts to attack Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and government facilities. Fears of an escalated Russian attack have prompted Kyiv to ban public events while the city of Kharkiv has brought forward an overnight curfew to start at 16:00 local time (13:00 GMT).
According to the FSB’s account of Darya Dugina’s death, a Ukrainian woman linked to security services in Kyiv had moved to Russia in July alongside her young daughter.
The woman had rented an apartment in the same building as Ms Dugina for a month, preparing for the attack, it alleged. In that time, she allegedly followed her target through Moscow in a Mini Cooper – for which she used three different licence plates.
The FSB later released video purporting to show the suspect’s car entering Russia, then of her entering Ms Dugina’s building and finally leaving Russia for Estonia.
Ms Dugina and her father were attending a festival near Moscow on Saturday evening where he was giving a lecture. They had reportedly intended to leave in the same car, but changed their plans at the last minute.
Investigators said explosives had been planted underneath the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving. Video appeared to show him looking on in shock as her car burned.
Ms Dugina was a vocal supporter of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a political commentator for her father’s International Eurasian Movement organisation. She wrote regularly for pro-Kremlin media outlets and had been placed under sanctions by the UK in July as “a frequent and high-profile contributor of disinformation in relation to Ukraine”.
“My daughter Darya Dugina was brutally murdered in front of me,” his statement on Telegram read. “She was a beautiful Orthodox woman, patriot, war reporter, an expert for central TV and philosopher.”
Russian media linked the suspect identified by the FSB to Ukraine’s Azov regiment, which Moscow says is a terrorist group. The Azov regiment flatly denied the allegation.
Estonia rejected the Russian claim that Ms Dugina’s alleged killer had fled across the border as a “provocation in a very long line of provocations by the Russian Federation”.
Independent Russian outlet Agentstvo raised several questions about the FSB version of events, surrounding the woman identified as the killer and the Mini Cooper car. It wondered why she would take a child with her on such a dangerous mission and said video of the car had been posted in the Kyiv region three days before the blast.
Exiled former Russian MP Ilya Ponomarev argued it was the work of a little-known Russian resistance group called the National Republican Army. The former MP who moved to Ukraine said the group had carried out several actions already, although there was no public reference to the group before Sunday.
The Ghana Police Service has confirmed the death of a 16-year-old final-year student of the Tweneboah Kuduah SHS who was stabbed to death last week.
Daniel Osei Mensah met his untimely death when two suspected robbers including a minor pounced on him at Benebene near Fiankoma in the Ashanti Region.
Eric Anning and the minor, whose age hasn’t been disclosed, buried the final year student in a cocoa farm near Benebene, according to the Police in a report released on Monday, August 8.
Due to assistance from some members of the Fiankoma community, the two suspects have been arrested.
One of the suspects, Eric Anning sustained a deep cut on his right hand during the robbery and was taken to the hospital for medical attention.
Following their arrest, Eric Anning together with his minor accomplice are said to have led Police to the scene where they buried Daniel Osei Mensah.
“The body was removed and deposited at the St Peter’s Catholic Hospital morgue for preservation and autopsy,†the Police report added.Â
The Inspector-General of Police, Dr Akuffo Dampare, has reached out to the family of Daniel Osei Mensah.
Meanwhile, the two suspects will be arraigned today, August 9, 2022.
The Police have arrested Safina Mohammed Adizatu, a student and Michael Fiifi Ampofo Arku, a Technical Officer for their involvement in the murder of one Frank Kofi Osei at Ashalley Botwe School Junction in Accra.
Osei, a Ghanaian domiciled in Canada was in the country for a vacation.
Safina also known as Safina Diamond on social media and Arku are said to have stabbed the deceased several times on his chin, jaw, back and strangled him to death.
Charged with conspiracy and murder, theAdenta District Court presided over by Nana Aba Quaiba Nunoo preserved their pleas and remanded them into Police custody to reappear on August 12.
Prosecution led by Chief Inspector Jacob Nyarko declined a bail application put in by the defence team as the case was under investigations and efforts were underway to nab other accomplices currently at large.
The court turned down the bail application.
Narrating the facts, Prosecution led by Chief Inspector Jacob Nyarko said Safina is a 23-year-old level 100 student of the University of Ghana and Arku is a Technical Officer of the Crop Research Institute, Kumasi.
Chief Inspector Nyarko said Osei, now deceased is a Ghanaian domiciled in Canada, but has been in the country a few weeks ago.
Prosecution said at night, Safina and Arku together with others yet to be identified stabbed Osei several times with a knife on his chin, jaw, back and strangled him to death.
It said Safina and Arku cleaned up the blood, while the deceased was in the room for a 24-hour period.
According to prosecution, accused persons later dragged the deceased from first floor of the storey building through the staircase and dumped him at the gate of the house near where the deceased had parked his Toyota Tundra and washed the blood stains off the staircase.
On July 26, this year, at about 0400 hours,Safina called a police officer saying that her boyfriend visited her, and he had died in her room.
Prosecution said the Police Officer called the Police Patrol Team who rushed to the scene and found the body of the deceased lying at the gate of Safina’s house, but (she) Safina and Arku were nowhere to be found.
It said the Police later traced Safina to Ashalley Botwe School Junction and nabbed her.
Prosecution said Arku after committing the act, absconded to Kumasi.
It said efforts were underway to apprehend other accomplices on the run.
A 42-year-old Taxi driver has been found dead in his car at Bremang in the Suame Municipality of the Ashanti Region.
Residents who could not withstand the nauseating stench discovered the body of Kwabena Fosu in the back seat of the cab that was parked in the neighborhood for three days.
There were drops of bloodstains underneath the Taxi cab with registration number AS-1808-20.
According to the relatives and the owner of the vehicle, the deceased was last seen on Friday when he left for work.
Crime scene officers from the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ashanti Regional Police Command carried out an assessment and conveyed the body to the morgue.
The body was found in a state of decomposition and police have begun investigations into the death of the Taxi driver.
Assembly Member for the Kantinka, Dr. Donkor Fodjour Electoral area, Obour Sika confirmed the incident to Citi News.
The Central Region Police are on manhunt for a spiritualist who aided a 70-year-old man to bury his two-year-old autistic grandson alive.
According to reports, the spiritualist identified as Kweku Baah, advised the grandfather of the victim to get rid of the boy, Abbas Sualihu, due to his condition.
In an interview with JoyNews, the Elmina Police Commander, Supt. Abraham Bansah, disclosed that the suspect, Kwaku Baah, perpetrated the act under the direction of a spiritualist.
The two-year-old boy was buried alive at the shores of Dutch Komenda on Friday, because he was considered a spirit child.
But for the timely intervention of the Police, he would have died.
The 70-year-old man was apprehended for his role in the crime.
Also, the parents of the two-year-old boy were arrested for conspiring in the crime, according to Supt. Abraham Bansah.
“All of them [the parents] have been arrested because they both conspired with the grandfather, Kwaku Baah, to do that. So they have all been arrested, and they are in our custody,†he said.
The incident that occurred at Dutch Komenda in the Central Region shocked the community, with residents describing it as barbaric and heinous.
Gabriel Asiedu, a head porter who stabbed his colleague three times in the arm at Kwame Nkrumah Circle following a misunderstanding over GHC 5.00 has been sentenced to three years imprisonment by an Accra Circuit Court.
The said GHC5.00 was to be shared among three people including Asiedu and Kwasi Appiah the victim and complainant in the case.
Charged with causing harm Asiedu pleaded guilty, saying the court should forgive him because he did that because of anger and that he was not going to repeat the act.
Asiedu, 21, told the court presided over by Mrs Patricia Amponsah that Appiah also inflicted knife wounds at his back.
To prove his case, Asiedu removed his black T-Shirt and showed his back to the court.
The court observed that there were no fresh wounds on his back.
Chief Inspector John Gohoho informed that the complainant was bleeding and there was no way he could have stabbed the accused in return.
Chief Inspector Gohoho said he has been informed that when the incident occurred, Asiedu attempted running away so the crowd subjected him to severe beatings.
The Prosecution narrated that Appiah aged 29 and Asiedu are all porters at Gye Nyame Trotro Lorry Station at Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Accra.
On December 20, this year, a taxi emerged at the station with a load.
The prosecution said the accused, complainant, one other went and helped discharge the load from the car and the owner of the goods gave them GHC5.00 to share.
While sharing the money a misunderstanding ensued between the accused and the complainant and they engaged in a fight.
The prosecution said during the fight, the accused pulled a kitchen knife from his pocket and stabbed the complainant in the left arm and the complainant began to bleed.
The Prosecutor said a report was made to the Police at Neoplan Station and the accused was picked up.
A Ghanaian at the Virginia State University(VSU) in the United States of America (USA) has been caged for his involvement in the murder of a colleague.
The Police were called upon December 5, shortly before 8 p.m to University Apartments at Ettrick.
The body of Virginia State University student, Daniel N. Wharton, 19, of Alexandria, with gunshot wounds, was found.
Daniel N. Wharton, 19 was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead upon arrival.
Isaac K. Amissah Jr. turned himself into the Police.
21-year-old Isaac K. Amissah Jr. has been charged with murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and is currently being held in prison without a bond.
The search for a man who allegedly killed his girlfriend and hid her body in a fridge at Ho-Fiave in the Volta Region continues.
Personnel of the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Tuesday picked evidence of what they believe to be the burnt hair of the deceased and a rod used to control the burning at the backyard of the suspect.
Some documents were also taken from his room to assist police with investigations.
The CID is trying to remove the barn, which has been used to cordon off the building. In there is a blood-soaked carpet cabinet. Some of the clothes the suspect heaped on the body to conceal it are also soaked with blood. The suspect is still on the run, the residents seem not to know much about the suspect and the deceased.
JoyNews Maxwell Agbagba in an interaction with some of the residents, one of whom said “they always move quietly. Since yesterday I was not myself.â€
Another also had this to say about the alleged suspect and deceased: “We perceive as if they are twins because even when they come back from work, you realise that the guy in front and the girl trying to jump to back him so that they come to the house.â€
The investigators managed to pick up some documents from the crime scene. We hope this will help them reach the family of the deceased.
Son of the landlady, Mathias Ajobley says the suspect demanded a spare key to his room which was then in I possession of his mother.
“Because my mom was also late, she was like okay, then she just wait and then pick the key and then give it to him,†Mathias added.
The search for a man who allegedly killed his girlfriend and hid her body in a fridge at Ho-Fiave in the Volta Region continues.
Personnel of the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Tuesday picked evidence of what they believe to be the burnt hair of the deceased and a rod used to control the burning at the backyard of the suspect.
Some documents were also taken from his room to assist police with investigations.
The CID is trying to remove the barn, which has been used to cordon off the building. In there is a blood-soaked carpet cabinet. Some of the clothes the suspect heaped on the body to conceal it are also soaked with blood. The suspect is still on the run, the residents seem not to know much about the suspect and the deceased.
JoyNews Maxwell Agbagba in an interaction with some of the residents, one of whom said “they always move quietly. Since yesterday I was not myself.â€
Another also had this to say about the alleged suspect and deceased: “We perceive as if they are twins because even when they come back from work, you realise that the guy in front and the girl trying to jump to back him so that they come to the house.â€
The investigators managed to pick up some documents from the crime scene. We hope this will help them reach the family of the deceased.
Son of the landlady, Mathias Ajobley says the suspect demanded a spare key to his room which was then in I possession of his mother.
“Because my mom was also late, she was like okay, then she just wait and then pick the key and then give it to him,†Mathias added.
He believes the suspect did not want any of his co-tenant to get access to his room.
The Queen mother of Fetteh Kakraba in the Gomoa East District of the Central Region Nana Adjoa Adobi is reported to have escaped death after some criminals stormed her house.
According to reports, the group stormed her house on Saturday, November 6, 2021, evening in an attempt to assassinate her but met her absence.
However, gunshots were fired while her car was vandalized.
Meanwhile, the Fetteh Kakraba Queen mother has named her suspect.
Starrnews reports that she “accused the Omankrado of the area Nana Ekow Kudu-Manu of being behind the attackâ€.
“Nana Adjoa Adobi said the Omankrado has pledged to kill her due to some land litigation between them. Adding that the Omankrado came to her house a day before the incident and arrested her personal secretary claiming that they are land guards.
Meanwhile, the accused person Omankrado of Fetteh Kakraba Nana Ekow Kudu-Manu popularly known as Yaw Kojo-Oku has denied these allegations levelled against him.
A 21-year-old Seamstress has allegedly been murdered by some unknown assailants at Achinakrom in the Ejisu Municipality of the Ashanti Region.
The girl, believed to have died about three days ago, was found in a state of decomposition.
Doris Donkor, known in the area as Akos, was found dead in her room on Tuesday, October 26, 2021, three days after the suspected gruesome murder.
Speaking to OTEC News Kwame Agyenim Boateng, Mrs. Esther Appiah, sister-in-law to the deceased disclosed that the girl was seen dead in her room three days after she got missing.
She added that not seeing the deceased for about three days in the house and without any knowledge of her whereabouts, neighbours decided to check the room which was initially locked from outside with a padlock.
Mrs. Esther Appiah noted that residents noticed a bad stench which they initially mistook for that of a dead mouse, but residents could not locate the supposed dead mouse upon a thorough search of the house.
The padlock according to her was forcefully opened only to discover the body of the deceased with her intestines out, suspecting that she was stabbed before her death.
A middle-aged man has been shot dead on a farm at Nweneso Number One in the Atwima Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti Region.
According to relatives, the deceased informed them that he was going to the farm only for some persons to report to them that they had found his lifeless body in the bush, with suspected gunshot wounds.
Police have conveyed the body to the mortuary and have begun investigations into the killing.
Speaking to Citi News, Assembly Member for Nweneso Number one Biragokrom Electoral Area, Kwame Atinka, disclosed that two persons have been arrested in connection with the incident.
According to him, the news about the shooting came to him and the community as a shock.
He added that the body of the deceased has since been deposited at the mortuary.
“We got the news that a man by the name Yaw Kwarteng has been shot by some unknown men. So we rushed to the scene and when we got there, we saw his lifeless body lying there.â€
“We quickly reported the news to the police. So as of now, two suspects have been arrested and are in police custody. The body has been taken by the police to the mortuary.â€
A criminologist and lecturer at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Edgar Tachie Akonnor, has underscored the need for the appropriate authorities to clamp down on the open advertisement of quick money activities.
Reacting to the arrest of the 28-year-old architect who allegedly murdered three persons and stored their parts in a fridge, the lecturer said there could be several factors that could trigger such an act.
He said such crimes could be influenced or triggered by several factors including, the activities of money doublers and ritualists.
The lecturer explained that these activities could be triggers for people who want to make quick money.
He told host Kwabena Agyapong that the adverts or activities of ritualists promising people quick money could easily influence people to engage in serial killings or murders just to have access to the money promised them.
He advised the country to address the issue in the media landscape and call a spade a spade because it is having serious implications on our security.
He said although civilisation and transformation in religion and culture should help in reducing such crimes, we have witnessed worse situations in the country.
Edgar Tachie Akonnor also asked the Police to extend their investigations from all angles to help them have a conclusive outcome on the matter.
He added that if such issues are not addressed, it would be accepted by Ghanaians, and people will no longer see it as a problem.
The Tema Regional Police Command has arrested a 36-year-old Chinese national -Luo Chuan on August 9, 2021, and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, abetment of attempted murder and duty to prevent Felony.
Luo Chuan was arrested in connection with the attempted murder of a fellow Chinese national, – Xu Rongsheng 33-year-old by Jiang Yongshong, 49-year-old, also a Chinese and the main suspect in the case at a Casino in Community Six, Tema.
According to Superintendent Kwabena Otuo Acheampong, Regional Crime Officer, Tema Police Command who briefed the Ghana News Agency in Tema on Wednesday said the main suspect, is currently on the run.
He said the main suspect Jiang is alleged to have on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, shot at the victim three times without provocation at the premises of a Casino at Community Six and absconded in a black 4×4 Lexus with Registration No. GT 9555-15 being driven by Luo now in custody.
Supt Otuo Acheampong explained that upon receiving a report and after initial enquiries, the police traced the getaway vehicle to Aristocrat Casino at Community Eleven, Tema on Saturday, August 7, 2021, where the vehicle was impounded and arrested a suspect with the keys to the said vehicle.
He said further investigations led to the arrest of the driver of the said vehicle at his hideout in Tema and has since been arraigned before the Ashaiman District Court on Wednesday, August 11, 2021, and remanded into Police custody to reappear on August 25, 2021.
“Unrelenting efforts are still underway to apprehend the main suspect who is on the run with a gun in his possession to face the full rigours of the Law,†Supt. Otuo Acheampong noted.
He also called on the public to call Tema Regional Police Command on emergency numbers: +233291206472 or +233542719093 around the clock with any information leading to the arrest of the main suspect.
The Abuakwa Divisional Police Command have arrested three people for trade in body parts.
The suspects, 65-year-old Kwaku Agyapong, 48-year-old Anane Kofi Konye, and Isaac Adota, 25 years old, were arrested when they offered to sell the human skeletons for GH¢30,000.
Konye and Adota were arrested at a hotel where they were about to deliver the skeletons to the supposed buyers (plain clothed police officers).
The two then led the police to arrest the mastermind, 65-year-old Kwaku Agyapong, a resident of Adamsu in the Bono region.
The Ashanti Regional Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Godwin Ahianyo told Daily Graphic that they picked intelligence that Kwaku Agyapong had in his possession human parts and was looking for a buyer in Kumasi.
Following the tip off, some police officers posed as buyers.
The suspects are currently in police custody assisting with investigations.
The Ashanti Regional Police Command of the Ghana Police Service is investigating the alleged murder of wife of aide to Dr KK Sarpong, the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Nana Prempeh.
Benedicta Abena Pokua was shot dead Saturday evening by unknown assailants while driving at the forecourt of Joefel Restaurant at Dichemso, a suburb of Kumasi.
Recounting the incident on Akoma FMs current affairs and political show GhanAkoma on Monday, June 14, husband Nana Prempeh told host of the show Aduanaba Kofi Asante Ennin that “while on our way from Joefel Restaurant, my wife was driving my white Range Rover with a customized registration number PREMPEH 1- 21.â€
“She was driving ahead of me while I was in a different car. All what I saw was someone had rushed her and opened gunfire at her. They shot multiple times and sped off.â€
Nana Prempeh in a sobbing voice explained that he is convinced the armed men were coming for him but little did they know he had swapped cars with his wife.
Police are tight-lipped on the issue as it is yet to go public.
The assailants are still at large as investigation is underway to unravel the killers of Abena Pokua.
One Agatha Tiwaa, a fifty-five-year-old woman is reported to have murdered her blood sister in what is suspected to be a land dispute at Muntukwa in the Berekum West District of the Bono Region.
According to Joynews, the deceased identified as Yaa Aworo is a younger sister of Madam Tiwaa, is yet to be picked up by the police.
In an eye-witness report, Hinneh Kwasi reportedly recounted that he was returning home from the farm when the suspect told him that she and her sister had just engaged in a fight.
The suspect, according to the eyewitness, also admitted in their conversation that her sister had gone into a coma after she hit her with an object during the fight.
Kwasi Hinneh who reportedly rushed to the scene upon receiving the information discovered that the victim had died and was not in a coma.
According to the eyewitness, the two sisters for some time have not been on good terms and have been engaging in a series of fights over a plot of land which is suspected to be the reason behind the unfortunate incident.
Meanwhile, Gifty Agyeiwaa, a granddaughter of the deceased is calling for the arrest and prosecution of the 55-year-old suspect over the death of her grandmother.
The 26-YEAR-OLD man in Ho, Jay Dordoe, who allegedly killed his girlfriend by slashing her throat in their room before splitting his own belly open with the knife in a suicide bid, was discharged from hospital last Tuesday.
This was disclosed to the Ghanaian Times by the Ho Municipal Police Commander, Superintendent Anthony Danso in Ho at the weekend.
He said that Dordoe was taken into police custody immediately after his discharge and arraigned in the Ho Magistrate Court One the next day on an interim charge of murder.
His plea was not taken.
The court, presided over by Mr Robert Addo remanded Dordoe into police custody to appear again on May 5.
The horrifying homicide occurred in a house near Freedom Hotel in Ho on March 23.
According to Superintendent Danso, at about 10:40 pm that day, Dordoe was heard screaming in agony in the room and when his brother entered the room Dordoe and the deceased, Harriet Hiati, 25, were seen lying in a pool of blood.
A report was subsequently made to the police, after which a crime management team was dispatched to the scene where they found the woman in a light green shirt and a pair of shorts with a deep cut in her throat, and also the man.
The body of the deceased was then sent to the morgue at the Ho Teaching Hospital where Dordoe was also sent.
Superintendent Danso said that Dordoe was taken to the theatre with a deep cut in his throat, with his intestines gushing out.
Preliminary investigations by the police found that Dordoe after slashing the throat of his girlfriend attempted to hang himself on a ceiling fan which fell off in the process.
He then split his belly open with the knife in another unsuccessful suicidal bid.
Superintendent Danso quoted Dordoe as saying that the deceased had been cheating on him and that was the cause of the bloody encounter which ensued between them.
A 24-year-old unemployed, Bright Ofori, has been arrested after he clubbed to death 35 years old Muniru Mohammed Haddi at Assin Awisem in the Assin Fosu Municipality of the Central Region over a ¢10.00 dispute.
The Chief Prosecutor at Twifo Ati-Morkwa District Magistrate Court, Detective Inspector Joshua Kusah explained to Kasapa FM News Yaw Boagyan that on Saturday 16th January 2021, Assin Awisem Police received a report that the accused person has hit his friend with a stick at about 6:30 pm.
The Police team quickly rushed to the scene and conveyed the deceased to Assin Awisem Health centre for treatment and was later transferred to St. Francis Xavier Hospital (Assin Fosu) and finally referred to Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, but unfortunately, he passed away on the following day.
The body is currently at the Twifu Praso Mortuary for post mortem, whilst the accused person is currently at Twifo Praso police custody and will be arraigned to court on the 10th February 2021.
Residents of Gbane in the Talensi District in the Upper East Region were thrown into a state of shock when a young man shot himself in the head with a locally manufactured pistol because he was refused an alcoholic drink.
The deceased, Jacob Gbamri, aka Lion, aged 29, had earlier gone on a drinking spree in the neighbourhood before returning home drunk.
When he attempted to take in more alcohol from a nearby drinking spot owned by his wife, Ms Akua Yinputa Merit, the latter allegedly refused to serve him.
A few moments later, members of the household heard the sound of a gunshot only to discover that Gbamri, after he was refused the alcoholic drink, picked his pistol and shot himself to death.
Confirmation
The Public Affairs Officer of the Upper East Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr David Fianko-Okyere, who confirmed the story to the Daily Graphic in Bolgatanga yesterday, said the incident occurred on Sunday, January 3, 2021.
He further explained that on Monday, January 4, the police received a distress call from the assembly member for the Gaare Gbane-Tongo Electoral Area that the deceased had shot himself
The police then proceeded to the deceased’s house where they found the body lying in a pool of blood, with gunshot wounds on the right side of his head.
High fever
ASP Fianko-Okyere further revealed that preliminary investigations showed that the deceased was a high fever patient.
He said the body had been released to the family for burial but the pistol that was used for the dastardly act had been retrieved by the police for evidential purposes.
Four people have been confirmed dead in an accident in which a Taxi and a Sprinter bus collided head-on, on the Dunkwa-Obuasi road of the Upper Denkyira East District of the Central Region Monday evening.
Fourteen others who are in critical condition are on admission at the Dunkwa Government hospital and where the bodies of the deceased have been deposited.
Speaking to Kasapa FM News Yaw Boagyan, an eyewitness explained that, the Taxi was driving from Obuasi direction towards Dunkwa with four persons on board.
The driver, on reaching a section of the road at the outskirts of Manukrom heading to Kubi Junction had a burst tyre in the process, veered off his lane to the opposite direction and collided head-on with a Sprinter Bus with 18 passengers on board.
But a passenger in the Mini Bus who spoke to Kasapa FM news says the Taxi driver allegedly attempted to overtake a leading vehicle.
Several victims who are yet to be identified and are in critical condition receiving medical attention at the hospital with one person referred to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
The Dunkwa Offin District Fire Commander who was at the scene advised drivers to drive with care as we are entering a new year.
He advised drivers not to drink alcohol and drive especially during this Festive Season.
The case is under investigation at Dunkwa Offin Police Command.
The Asamankese Magistrate Court Presided over by Her Worship Mrs. Cynthia Bragodzi has remanded into Police Custody a 45-year-old man who stabbed her mother with Scissors and killed her in Asamankese.
The accused, Samuel Boateng will re-appear in court on 28th December 2020.
Prosecuting, Sargent Samuel Owusu told the court that the incident occurred in Yaayo-Asamankese on the night of 20th December 2020 when the deceased, Comfort Ayede, 65 years attempted to stop her son from going out in the night.
The prosecution said the accused person is a divorced man who has been staying with his mother for some time now and believed to be drinking alcohol daily but all attempt by the family to stop him from drinking has proved futile.
The prosecutor told the court that the deceased together with family other family members decided to send the accused person to a prayer camp on 21st December for deliverance.
Unfortunately on the night of 20th December, the accused attempted going out in the night and the late mother decided to stop him, alleging the accused is going to drink alcohol and that brought misunderstanding between the deceased and accused person where the accused managed to get scissors in the room and stabbed his mother severely and killed her.
Sargent Samuel Owusu told the court that other family members and siblings of the accused person heard the noise and came in to rescue their mother but she died when she was rushed to the hospital.
The accused person was later on 21st December arrested in Asamankese and sent to court for prosecution.
A young man believed to be in his late thirties has allegedly beheaded his mother at Opeinimso a farming community near Asamankese in the Lower West Akyem Municipality of the Eastern Region.
The incident occurred Monday dawn around 2:00am, according to a family source.
The suspect identified as Quarcoo has, however, gone into hiding after the callous act.
The cause of his action is not known.
The body of the deceased Adwoa Ayare has been retrieved from the pool of blood by the police and deposited at the Asamankese Government hospital morgue.
The Lower West Akyem Municipal Director of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) familiar with the incident told Starr News that the locals in collaboration with the police have launched a manhunt for the arrest of the suspect.
A uniformed soldier only identified Sergeant Asiedu from Burma Camp has been declared wanted by the police over his role in the death of a police motor rider with the Nima Division in Accra, Sargent Justice Appiah Kubi.
The said military officer who was at the scene of an accident where his vehicle was involved leading to the death of the policeman, is reported to have escaped at the blind side of police investigators.
According to police sources available to MyNewsGh.com, the accident occurred around the Hajj Village bypass.
According to eyewitnesses, the military Officer informed police that his brother who was in a Hyundai Santefe DV- 5670-20 was involved in an accident with a Ford Ranger with registration number GV 1342 14 and he called for a towing truck to tow the vehicle to Dzorwulu.
The said Military officer who had then parked his Toyota pick-up in the inner lane MyNewsGh.com gathered, raised his hand and waved the police rider. In response, the rider turned to watch the officer at the scene, but unfortunately, he crashed into a Toyota Hilux pick-up parked in the inner lane near the accident scene by the said Military officer. The rider managed to veer off after the first impact and crashed again into the open drainage in the outer lane.
He sustained serious injuries and in process of pulling out the police rider from the gutter by the two Policemen, the Military officer drove his vehicle away unnoticed.
The rider was rushed to the 37 military Hospital for treatment but the medical Doctor on duty to examine him, pronounced him dead on arrival.
The body of the deceased rider was conveyed to the Police Hospital mortuary for preservation and awaiting autopsy.
Richard Ansi alias Joe Kwame, a farmer at Bodada, a suburb of Jasikan in the Oti Region shot his next-door neighbour on Tuesday during an altercation.
The victim, Prosper Darko an okada rider sustained life-threatening gunshot wounds and currently is receiving treatment at the Jasikan District hospital.
Joe Kwame, the aggressor, who was almost lynched by some angry residents, is also receiving treatment at the same hospital.
It is not clear what sparked the altercation but eyewitnesses say they heard Joe Kwame threatening to shoot the Okada rider during the fierce encounter in his house while the Okada rider dared the farmer to shoot him if he was a man. The next thing they heard was a gunshot.
The Jasikan police have initiated investigations into the matter.
Family of the suspect in the Ayeduase shooting incident Francis Azabanga is calling for an independent probe into the shooting incidence to establish whether the suspect really shot himself.
Speaking on Akoma FM’s morning show GhanAkoma on Thursday, November 19, sister to the suspect Lydia Azabanga told host Aduanaba Kofi Asante Ennin in Twi that the family “suspects the police shot and killed my brother contrary to what they came out to tell the mediaâ€.
They said Francis Azabanga did not shoot himself after an altercation in traffic contrary to the preliminary report of the police.
Scenes captured in a video Akoma FM intercepted brought about interesting twist to the story.
The family is calling for an independent probe.
“Our major premise of their claims is to clear the air that the deceased our brother Francis Azabanga committed suicide. Meanwhile, the videos we are receiving indicate that the police shot him.â€
The Azabanga family says they will initiate independent autopsy report into the issue to bring the truth to bare.
A 31-year-old man on Tuesday morning shot himself in the head after a road rage at Ayeduase near the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi.
The 31-year-old Sampson Zabanga shot himself in the head to escape a mob attack after he had shot Kwame Amoah, 52, during the altercation.
The altercation followed an incident of a reported careless driving at Ayeduase in Kumasi, Tuesday morning [November 17, 2020].
In the ensuing exchanges, the middle-aged man, Sampson Zabanga reportedly shot Kwame Amoah, who had confronted him over the said careless driving incident before he shot himself.
He is said to have shot himself at the scene when there was an attempt to disarm him.
The suspect and the victim are both in critical condition and receiving treatment at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) under police guard.
The suspect was driving a saloon vehicle – KIA Optima – with registration number GR 2019 – 17.
Eyewitness account
An eyewitness said they saw the middle-aged man driving “carelessly” in the Ayeduase area.
And so some people asked him not to drive carelessly and that resulted in verbal exchanges.
According to the eyewitness, just as they thought the issue had been settled, they saw Amoah move in front of the guy’s vehicle forcing the guy to step out of the vehicle, hit Amoah’s chest and slapped him in the face.
This resulted in a fight which the eyewitness said he saw the guy picking a gun from his vehicle and shot Amoah subsequently.
The eyewitness said he heard a second gunshot whilst holding Amoah who had then fallen to the ground before seeing the guy shooting himself.
Police reaction
The Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Mr Godwin Ahianyo said both the suspect and the victim are at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) receiving emergency medical care under police guard.
According to the police, preliminary information gathered indicated that after shooting Amoah, Zabanga went into his car and tried to escape because the mob had blocked the road from both sides and were pelting his car with stones and fearing that he might be lynched, he shot himself in the head.
He said when the police got to the scene, they found both victims and in a pool of blood and initially sent them to the KNUST Hospital where they were referred to KATH.
A driver of a KIA saloon vehicle has shot himself after shooting a man who warned him against careless driving at Ayeduase near Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
The victim, Amoah who is a painter, was shot three times in the stomach after returning a slap from the driver.
The driver, according to the eyewitnesses, was quarreling with a woman who sat in the front seat of the vehicle.
He shot himself after he was surrounded by the police who had rushed to the scene to prevent a mob action.
Amoah, had moved in to tell the driver to drive cautiously on the busy road when he was caught in traffic.
The two who are in critical condition have been sent to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for medical attention.
The police in the Northern Region have arrested 13 persons over disturbances, including the killing of one person, during a peace mediation committee meeting at Sanguli-Labaldo in the Saboba District on October 8, 2020.
They include Danaa Nyogma, 25, described as the key suspect who shot and killed Francis Nyaful when some gunmen attacked the mediation meeting at the EP Church at Sanguli-Labaldo.
Others are James Bafii Kojo, 81; Kpawui Namparibu, 41; Ntedo Unadum,37; Tiyajawam Kolatim, 57; Kanabe Npuan, 27; Waajah Maakpen, 55, and John Ntiche, 50.
The rest are Nakojah Nampari, 17; Simon Kpawul, 29; Ngbayorin Gnakpuri, 66; Kanabi Njobi, 20, and Nakoja Naja, 25.
Police confirm
The Northern Regional Police Crime Officer, Superintendent Bernard Baba Ananga, told the Daily Graphic that the suspects had been put before the Yendi Circuit Court.
He said their pleas were not taken, and were remanded into police custody to reappear on October 28, 2020.
Supt Ananga said investigations were ongoing, and upon conclusion, the docket would be forwarded to the Attorney- General’s (A-G) Department for advice and prosecution.
Background
On Saturday, October 9, 2020, the Daily Graphic reported that the Northern Regional Police Command was on the heels of gunmen who stormed a peace and mediation committee meeting at Sanguli-Labaldo, killing one person and injuring another.
The meeting was to foster peace in hotspots in the Saboba District.
The men, who were armed with guns, bows and arrows, attacked members of the mediation committee, and in the process Nyaful sustained gunshot wounds.
Francis, however, passed away while on admission, and his body was deposited at the Yendi Government Hospital morgue for autopsy.
Supt Ananga said Nyogma was identified as the one who allegedly shot Nyaful during the attack.
He said a police patrol team was deployed to the community to ensure that there was law and order, while efforts were made to arrest the perpetrators.
Information rife indicates that five people have been arrested in connection with the killing of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mfantseman constituency, Ekow Quansah Hayford.
In a post on Twitter, the Ghana Police Service said, those arrested are being taken through lawful police procedures.
“…They are being taken through lawful Police procedures. Further updates will be given in due time,†the post indicated.
Late MP’s mobile phone found:
Further information gathered by Peace FM Ashanti Regional correspondent, Samson K. Nyamekye indicates that three of the suspects were arrested in the Central Region and two in the Ashanti Region.
One of the suspects according to the report, had in his possession the mobile phone of the deceased MP.
Listen to the report in the video below:
Background
The Member of Parliament was shot dead by alleged armed robbers on the Abeadze DominaseAbeadze DuadziMankessim Road while returning from a campaign trip.
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), James Oppong-Boanuh has placed a ¢20,000 bounty on the killers of the incumbent MP for Mfantseman Constituency.
Five Arrested.
Five persons have been arrested in connection with the murder of the Member of Parliament for Mfantsiman Constituency, Hon. Ekow Quansah Hayford. They are being taken through lawful Police procedures. Further updates will be given in due time. pic.twitter.com/6VwxHOUTsE
A woman in her late 50s has been killed by a young Fulani herdsman early Wednesday dawn at Mafi-Agoea, a rural community in the Central Tongu district of the Volta region.
The suspect, a young Fulani herdsman, believed to be in his late 20s is said to be a customer of the deceased known as Eya, who until her death sold Akpeteshie and other provisions.
Confirming the incident, in-law to the deceased, William Adzigo, told Starr News that he and other neighbours were woken from their sleep at the instance of an alarm raised by the grand-daughter of the victim.
He said, “It was about 2:00am last night when we heard the grand-daughter screaming that somebody was killing the grandmother. We all rushed out but the door was locked from inside and so we forced it open but the first person that rushed into the room was also attacked by the victim and so he also sustained deep machete cuts on his head.â€
“We called the police who got to the scene and entered the room to arrest the suspect, a known Fulani herdsman in the area but by that time, the woman was already dead and so the police after whisking away the suspect came for the body,†he added.
The second victim who was attacked is also receiving medical treatment at the Adidome government hospital while the suspect is in the grips of the police assisting investigations.
There are over thousand Fulani herdsmen living in the Tongu areas who own an estimated 20,000 herds.
Nana Araba Otua, the Omanhene of Mankessim Traditional area has bemoaned the recent spate of murders in the area.
Nana Araba Otua is concerned that indigenes of the area keep dying with government not proffering any tangible solution to the issues.
He (his) frustrations stems (stem) from the gruesome murder of the Member of Parliament of Mfantseman, Ekow Quansah Hayford on Friday.
Speaking to the press, Nana Araba Otua highlighted a number of high-profile murder cases in the area which remain unresolved and questioned if there will ever be an end to such killings.
She identified the killing BNI Director, Samuel Ampofo and a police officer, L/Cpl Kingsley Kofi Boahen within a space of two months.
Samuel Amponfo (Ampofo) was shot by yet-to-be-identified gunmen who fired into a crowd during the installation of (the) Omanhen in December last year. Kofi Boahen on the other hand, was killed in a robbery attack similar to the MP.
“These criminals must be found. The killings must stop. Sadly, the people responsible for these killings are still at large. The decent people of Mfantsiman cannot and should not live in fearâ€, she is quoted TheGhanaReport.
The MP for the area, Ekow Quansah Hayford was murdered by suspected armed robbers when he was returning from campaign in the area.
Official report states that he was shot multiple times by the angry robbers after he disclosed his identity as a politicians.
The IGP, James Oppong Boanuh has dispatched investigators to the constituency to identify the culprits of the heinous crimes.
Several high figures including President Akufo-Addo, Former President John Dramani Mahama and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia have mourned the death of the MP.
Central Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan, has served noticed that the killers of the Mfantseman, Ekow Quansah-Hayford can run but can never hide for forever from the long arm of the law
According to him, the murderers will be arrested by the police very soon to face the full rigors of the law.
Mourning with the bereaved family at the weekend, the former Central Regional Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) said “the good Lord in heaven will ensure that the killers are arrested in earnest. They can run but can never hide, they will be arrested very soon by the police.â€
He assured “whatever steps the family will take, we support them and we will ensure that the murderers who committed this heinous crime are apprehended.â€
“On behalf of President Akufo-Addo, the New Patriotic Party, the Regional Security Council, we want to say a big sorry and mourn with the mother, wife and children and all the family of the demise of your husband, son and brother Ekow Quansah-Hayfordâ€, he said.
“I want to say that what has happened is a big pain and loss not only to the family but also to the NPPâ€, he noted.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Mfatseman Constituency was shot dead on the Abeadze Dominase Abeadze Duadzi Mankessim Road while returning from a campaign trip of the area.
He is believed to have been attacked at about 1:00 am Friday October 9, 2020 by 6 armed highway robbers and was rushed to the emergency ward of Saltpond Municipal hospital dead.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Mfantseman constituency in the Central Region, has initiated moves to find a replacement for Mr Ekow Kwansah Hayford, the party’s Parliamentary nominee for Election 2020 who was killed last Friday by suspected armed robbers.
This is in line with Section 4 of the Public Elections Regulations 2020, C.I. 127, which states that: “Where at the close of nominations, but before the election, one of the candidates dies, a further period of 10 days shall be allowed for nominations.â€
The NPP in the Mfantseman constituency is yet to settle on a candidate to represent the late Ekow Kwansah Hayford but is hoping to find one this week to meet the 10 days deadline specified in law.
Ekow Kwansah Hayford who was the Member of Parliament for the area and was seeking re-election filed his nomination forms on Thursday, October 8, 2020 only to be killed the next day.
The EC closed the filing of nominations on Friday, October 9, 2020 same day as the MP was killed at dawn.
As part of the processes for re-election, Mr Hayford battled it out with a new entrant Mr James Korsah-Brown in June 2020 where the NPP delegates endorsed him.
Replacement
In an interview with Graphic Online’s Central Regional correspondent, Shirley Asiedu Addo, the first Vice Chairman of the Mfantseman constituency, Mr Yaw Berchie-Nuako said the constituency executive would meet by mid week to decide on a nominee and propose same to the national executive for approval.
He said they were hoping that whoever they select will be a winnable candidate to step in the shoes of the late Mr Hayford.
“The constituency executive here are on the grounds and so we know who can win the seat for us,” he stated.
Mr Berchie-Nuako stated that there was no way the national executive could impose any person on the constituency.
Is it going to be Ekow Kwansah’s widow?
Asked if the party was considering bringing the widow of the late MP, Mr Berchie-Nuako did not give a definite answer except to say that the nature of the death was a great blow to the family.
Korsah-Brown
Asked if the executives would consider Mr James Korsah-Brown the only candidate who had contested the late MP in the primary in June 2020, he said “like I said we don’t have any name yet. The executives would decide and let you know,” he stated.
NPP will retain seat
The NDC held the seat for 8 years before the NPP’s Ekow Kwansah Hayford snatched it from them in 2016.
“Our late MP was a good man who did a lot of work. His four-year work as MP is far more than the NDC’s work in 8 years,” he stated.
He said any candidate chosen would ride on the excellent works of the late MP.
“We are not going to rely on sympathy votes. The works of Kwansah Hayford speak everywhere and we are optimistic that the NPP will retain the seat,” he added.
He urged NPP members to remain calm and support the family in prayers.
“I was with him when the incident happened and I have still not recovered from it. It has hit us hard but we are praying and know it will make us even stronger,” he added.
Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has reacted to the gruesome murder of the late Ekow Quansah Hayford who was the Member of Parliament for Mfantseman Constituency.
Expressing shock at the happening, he also noted that he was equally pained.
Taking to his social media page; Facebook, to comment on the untimely death of the MP, Dr Bawumia said “I am pained and stunned by news of the untimely death of Hon. Ekow Quansah Hayford, Member of Parliament for Mfantseman constituency.â€
He intimated that the “perpetrators of this heinous crime are brought to book.â€
Bawumia, further, extended his condolences to the family and constituents of the late Ekow Quansah.
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), James Oppong Boanuh has dispatched specialised investigators from the homicide and anti-armed robbery units of the CID headquarters to the Central Region to support the Crime Scene Team to solve the alleged robbery incident and murder of Ekow Quansah Hayford.
The former Member of Parliament for Mfantseman, Ekow Hayford was shot dead by armed robbers on Friday dawn while returning from a campaign tour on the Nkusukum Mankessim-Abeadze Duadze road in the Central Region.
His body has since been deposited at the Saltpond Mortuary.
The Ghana Police Service has called on the family of the murdered Member of Parliament for Mfantseman Constituency, Ekow Quansah Hayford, to remain calm as some specialized investigators from the Homicide unit and Anti-armed robbery units of the CID Headquarters have been dispatched to probe the case.
In a statement signed by the Director of Police Public Affairs, Superintendent Sheila Kessie Abayie-Buckman, the service called on the general public and constituents to support the police in the investigations while they remain calm.
The IGP has also offered an amount of GH¢20,000 as reward to any person who “gives credible information that will lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.â€
The Member of Parliament for Mfantseman Constituency, Ekow Quansah Hayford, was shot by suspected armed robbers on the Abeadze DominaseAbeadze DuadziMankessim road when returning from a campaign trip on Friday October 9, 2020 around 1:00 am.
Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed utter shock at the murder of the MP.
“I am shocked and saddened by the news of the murder of the Member of Parliament for Mfantseman, Hon. Ekow Kwansa Hayford, by suspected armed robbers in the early hours of this morning…,†he stated in a Facebook post barely 24hours after the incident.
The president, while consoling the bereaved family and constituents called on the appropriate security agencies to, as a matter of urgency, see to the arrest of the perpetrator of the gruesome murder.
Below is the statement of the Ghana Police Service;
