Gone are the days when you see the once-innocent images of teenagers playing in the parks and at school.
Now, we have been hit with a dark reality, a chilling and disheartening trend of young people below 18 years old, increasingly involved in brutal acts.
They kill their friends, and relatives for money rituals, or in some cases, out of sheer malevolence.
The phenomenon has left society grappling with the question of how innocence is slipping through the cracks.
The Ghana Report brings you a few chilling stories that highlight this disheartening trend.
In no particular order.
11-year-old Ishmael Abdallah killed
This was one of the incidents that stunned the nation.
Two teenage boys, Felix Nyarko, 16, and Nicholas Kwame Kini, 17 years, respectively, lured their victim, 11 years, into an uncompleted building and killed him.
The gruesome murder happened at Kasoa in the Central Region.
The young boy was playing a video game on April 3, 2021, when he was called into the uncompleted building by his alleged killers, who also happened to be his friends.
Immediately, after he entered, the suspects hit 11-year-old Ishmael Abdallah with a club and later a block.
Ishmael, who was still breathing asked his killers, “You are my good friend, why are you doing this to me? What have I done to you?”
They brought two shovels dug a shallow hole and dropped Ishmael Abdallah inside, even whilst he was still breathing.
The young boys have since been put before the Ofaakor District Court.
Pregnant woman killed
Two teenage boys were hauled before the Ofaakor District Court for killing 11-year-old Ishmael Abdallah. They had also confessed to killing a pregnant woman at Kasoa during one of the court proceedings.
According to them, that was not the first time they were committing such a heinous crime purposely for money rituals.
Asked by the Magistrate when this supposed killing occurred, the minor responded “It was a long time ago”.
Twin brothers stab friend to death
In July 2023, twin brothers, both 16, reportedly stabbed their friend to death at Berekum in the Bono Region.
The boy they stabbed, Alhassan Sulemana, was also 16 years old.
The suspects only identified as Farouk and Harus attacked Sulemana at a pub on Saturday, July 15.
According to eyewitnesses, the unfortunate incident occurred after a misunderstanding between the twins and the victim.
One of the eyewitnesses, Mohammed Sofian said that he went to investigate after hearing loud shouts from the other side of the pub.
When he got closer, he found Alhassan and the twins engaged in a heated argument.
Mohammed cautioned them and went back to his seat.
However, he later heard more noise and returned to find that the twins had stabbed Alhassan with a pair of scissors.
He was rushed to the Berekum Holy Family Hospital but was declared dead on arrival.
The twin boys fled the crime scene but after some days they were fished out from their hiding place and arrested.
Girl, 15, stabs colleague over a boy
On May 24, 2022, two young ladies engaged in a heated argument over a boy, they were both dating.
The ladies are both students of the Nkwadum D/A Junior High School in the Akontombra District of the Western North Region.
The misunderstanding which happened after school hours escalated quickly leading to the death of 16-year-old Akua Kumah.
The suspect, Francisca Hayford stabbed her colleague in the chest, causing her to bleed to death.
Boy, 14, kills sister
The tragic incident occurred in October 2019.
A 14-year-old boy shot and killed his eight-year-old sister in the Mamponteng community in the Kwabre East District of the Ashanti Region.
The incident, described as an accident, saw the boy misusing a single-barrel gun belonging to his grandfather.
The whole community was thrown into a state of mourning following the death of the little girl, Princess Owusu Ansah.
The ‘suspect’ who was playing with the sister at the time of the incident was said to have gone for the gun from the grandfather’s room whilst he was away.
The gun which was already loaded, accidentally discharged whilst the two were playing and hit Princess on the chin.
She died on the spot.
The incident occurred around 12:45 pm at a time their grandmother was in the kitchen cooking.
Boy kills two children
In May 2015, a 13-year-old boy shot and killed two children with his father’s gun in the Ajumako township in the Central Region.
It is unclear what may have led to the shooting but the police arrested the boy and his father, Kwesi Adu.
The victims were rushed to the Ajumako District Hospital but were pronounced dead on arrival.
The deceased are Patrick Okyere and Andrews, both were 10 years old.