But for the swift strategic intervention of the Tepa District Police Command, angry youth would have broken into the police cells to lynch a suspect who allegedly killed a pregnant woman and a 17-year-old girl at Atobra, a suburb of Tepa, in the Ahafo Ano North Municipality of the Ashanti Region.
Identified as Godfred Aladago, the 25-year-old farmer allegedly killed a pregnant woman, cut her belly open and removed the unborn baby, and also killed a 17-year-old in-law of the pregnant woman.
Eyewitnesses say the bizarre scene stemmed from a misunderstanding that sprung when the suspect reported that the deceased’s goat has trespassed into his house and eaten his farm produce.
Tepa District Police Commander Superintendent Martin Asenso, explaining the barbaric incident on Akoma FM‘s current affairs and political show Monday, June 20, explained that when the suspect was kept in custody Sunday afternoon, the angry youth nearly broke into the cells to lynch him for the heinous act.
Supt. Asenso told the host of the show Aduanaba Kofi Asante Ennin that “the suspect earlier came to lodge a complaint that some farmer’s goats are stray and they have been eating his farm products and when he confronted them they have slashed his hand with a machete”.
The Tepa District Police Commander added that “a few minutes later, some angry youth came to the police station and explained that the suspect has actually killed two women claiming their goat have chewed his maize”.
According to Ankobiahene of Tepa Nana Amoateng Tuffuor, residents of the Atobra community saw the shock of their lives Sunday afternoon.
Recounting the tragic scene, Ankobiahene Nana Amoateng Tuffuor explained that “we were at the palace yesterday and a young man believed to be in his late 30’s barged into the palace and complained that some people are chasing him because he complained that their goats have eaten his maize so I told him to proceed to the police station not knowing that he was actually the one who has committed murder”.
Nana Ankobiahene after recounting the ordeal explained the complainant apparently is the murderer.
“As a chief of this town, I have never seen or heard such news before. This is a taboo and we are considering consulting the gods and deciding how to cleanse the land of such bloody heinous act that has befallen our land to avoid any catastrophe.”
The suspect has been transferred to the regional police command to avoid any reprisal attack from the youth.
The two deceased women have been identified as Rose Asibi, 30, and her in-law Rachel Alale, 17.