Prosecution Get Partial Advice From AG’s Office On Ritual Murder Case

The prosecution handling the case of a businessman who allegedly offered his daughter for ritual purposes has been tasked to transcribe the audio-visual evidence for the continuation of the case.

The 47-year-old businessman Evans Kyekyeku Oppong is believed to have returned from abroad and approached a herbalist to perform a blood sacrifice to make him rich.

When the case was called on Tuesday, February 14, the prosecution led by Chief Inspector Richard Amoah informed the court of the latest directive from the Attorney General.

“We received partial advice from the office of the Attorney General to go and transcribe the audio-visual which was received in connection with the case. We are now going to do the transcription at the Ghana Institute of Languages and send the report back to AG,” the prosecutor said.

The case has been adjourned to March 1, 2023.

Facts before the court

The brief facts presented in court were that the suspect, Evans Kyekyeku Oppong, aged 47 years is the father of the victim (name withheld), aged 11 years.

The suspect has been living in Holland for many years but relocated to Ghana a year ago.

Sometime in May 2022, the suspect is said to have discussed with a friend known as Kwame that he was facing financial difficulties.

His friend then suggested that the suspect seek spiritual cleansing to turn things around.

According to the prosecution, the said friend later introduced the suspect to one Nana Fosu, popularly known as Nana K.K, to assist him in seeing a spiritualist for help.

On 29 May, Nana Fosu took the suspect to Nana Adu-Boafo Jnr, a spiritualist and a herbal practitioner at Oyibi, for money rituals.

Per the facts, Nana Adu-Boafo Jnr agreed to do the money rituals for the suspect and directed him to buy a python from someone in Kasoa to be used for the money rituals.

But the suspect later informed the spiritualist that he is afraid of snakes and will come for further discussions on what to do.

The prosecution said, “The suspect later had discussions with the spiritualist during which the suspect suggested human sacrifice for the money rituals”.

“The spiritualist feigned interest and told the suspect to furnish him with the date of birth of his last two children to enable him to determine which of them will be suitable for the sacrifice,” as contained in the facts.

On 31 May, the suspect reportedly rang the victim’s mother to confirm the day the victim was born and told her that he would pick up the victim to be taken to a friend who had returned from abroad for measurement so that a dress would be sewn for her.

The suspect then furnished the spiritualist with the date of birth as requested.

However, the spiritualist alerted the Oyibi police about the intended human sacrifice by the suspect. The police urged him to play along with the suspect so he could be arrested when he produced the child at the herbal centre for the said sacrifice.

Per the facts, the spiritualist later informed the suspect that he had spiritually checked on the two children’s birth dates and that the victim would be suitable for the sacrifice.

The spiritualist then instructed the suspect to bring the victim to his herbal centre on 3 June 2022.

The prosecution said in the morning of 3 June 2022, the suspect rang his elder brother to release his car to visit a herbal centre for treatment as a result of a car accident he had recently. Around 8.00 am on the said day, the elder brother released the vehicle to his son to go and drive the suspect to the herbal centre.

They are said to have picked the victim up at Amasaman on their way to the herbal centre.

“At a spot at Oyibi, the suspect asked the driver to wait for him, and he took over the car. The suspect later stopped and bought three ‘Ghana must go’ bags and two bottles of Schnapp.

“The suspect arrived at the herbal centre with the victim, and the spiritualist instructed her to sit in the hall while the suspect was also instructed to change his clothing on the compound and was later given a white calico to tie around his waist.

“The suspect was then given a concoction to bath, and in the course of that, the spiritualist called in the Oyibi police who came and arrested him and rescued the victim,” as narrated in court.

The accused is facing a provisional charge of preparation to commit murder at the Domestic Violence and Support Center Court in Accra.

He is currently on GH¢500,000 bail.