The Ahanta West Municipal Police Command has arrested six persons for allegedly burning a 60-year-old man, Isaac Ansah, at Achonwa in a community known as Achonwa.
The unfortunate incident occurred on Thursday, June 27, 2024, after a mob responded to allegations by a local fetish priest from the Achonwa community.
According to reports, the fetish priest informed elders in the community that Isaac Ansah had presented the names of 14 individuals from the community to him to kill them for sacrifice.
Before the incident, Ansah had been serving over two years from the community for a previous allegation of causing the death of a resident spiritually.
Frank Eshun, the nephew of the late Ansah, who narrated the incident to Channel One News, said the mob violence which led to his uncle’s death occurred hours after a meeting between Ansah and town elders, which ended without a resolution. This prompted anger among residents, who burnt him to death.
“The chief (caretaker chief) and the assemblyman had a grand durbar to meet the community members to decide what they have to do with my uncle. They also called the fetish priest to narrate what had happened. It is there that he said my uncle had written some 14 names for him to kill them.
“So when they called my uncle, he told them that the names he sent to the fetish priest were rather to soften their heart to allow him to come back to the community as he was already serving banishment from the community for an incident that happened some two years ago.
“It was just for the priest to change his mind to forget the issue to allow him to come back to the community to do his work, but he didn’t tell him to kill anyone. They didn’t listen to him at all, and so the youth of the community gathered, immediately captured him, tied him with ropes, stoned him and finally burnt him with used car tyres and petrol,” he said.
He said the family was devasted by the demise of his uncle and demanded justice.
“It’s painful. When I went there and saw the remains of my uncle, I have not been able to eat anything since because I saw dogs and birds eating his remains. So I feel so bad. We need to prosecute those people because if this even happened. There is a law in the country, and everyone must abide by it. So we are pleading with the state to prosecute them.”
Meanwhile, the body of 60-year-old Isaac Ansah has been taken to the mortuary for an autopsy.