A 42-year-old man is in the grips of the police for allegedly offering his 11-year-old daughter for ritual murder to make him wealthy.
Evans Oppong is believed to have returned from abroad and approached a herbalist to perform a blood sacrifice to make him rich.
On the day of the supposed sacrifice, Evans convinced one of his daughters to skip school and took her to the residence of the native doctor at Oyibi in the Greater Accra Region.
However, the herbalist, Nana Adu-Boafo Junior, reported him to the police and a team was dispatched to arrest Evans.
When the police arrived, Evans was bare-chested, dressed with a white cloth around his waist and sat on a stool near a pot ready for instructions from the herbalist.
He was picked up and whisked away into a waiting police van into custody for investigations.
The herbalist later posted on Facebook to narrate the incident.
According to him, he does not engage in ritual murder and was heartbroken when Evans approached him to kill his biological daughter.
The herbalist said Evans has 12 children, and he wanted to sacrifice two for the rituals.
Nana Adu-Boafo said Evans promised him an amount of GHC 10,000 and other goodies if the process was successful.
“I was crying within me because I have sympathy for humans and animals. I don’t kill people. Sometimes I don’t even eat my own poultry because I grow so much love for them.
“The sad thing is, he even picked the daughter from school during school hours with the intention of buying her a new dress.
“This man is a bad man with many evil intentions. He doesn’t even feel anything for his own girl,” the herbalist posted.
Police confirmation
Meanwhile, the police have confirmed the arrest.
In a statement released on Friday, 3 June 2022, the law enforcement agency said 42-year-old Evans Oppong resides at Fise, near Amasaman.
“The suspect’s arrest followed information provided by a patriotic citizen to the police, and we are grateful to him for his selfless service which has saved the life of the child involved,” the release signed and issued by Chief Superintendent Grace Ansah-Akrofi, the new Director of Police Public Affairs said.
“The victim is currently in safe custody of the police while an effort is being made to re-unite her with her mother and the rest of the family.”
“Meanwhile, the suspect is currently in police custody assisting with the investigation,” the police statement added.
There have been several reported cases of ritual murder across the country.
Even though some failed, others committed the crime before they were eventually discovered and arrested by police.
Below are some of the incidents:
The Kasoa ritual murder
A 10-year-old boy, Ishmael Mensah Abdallah, was murdered in cold blood for ritual purposes on April 3.
Felix Nyarko, aka Yaw Anane, 16, a mason labourer, who is the first accused, and Nicholas Kini Kwame, 18, a student and second accused, lured Abdallah into an uncompleted building and killed him with a club and a cement block.
According to the police, a fetish priestess had demanded body parts from the two in addition to GH₵5,000 to perform money rituals to make them wealthy.
Couple Arrested For Burying Two-Year-Old Son
The police in the Central Region arrested a couple for burying their two-year-old son alive at Asikuma Odobeng Brakwa.
According to the police, Paul Adobaw and his wife Yaa Atta acted on the instructions of a fetish priestess to bury the boy who could not walk nor speak since childbirth.
The self-styled prophetess, Ama Nkansah, had told the suspects that the baby was a spirit child from a river, and if they did not return the baby to the river gods, the couple would continue giving birth to such babies.
The couple and the prophetess took the baby to the backyard of a tenant near a stream called Gyankobeng. At about 12:20 am on May 27, they dug a grave, performed rituals on the child, and buried him alive.
A tenant, Abubakari Mohammed, who saw the three in the act, lodged a report at the Brakwa Police Station on the same day at about 3:30 am.
Fashion Designer ritual murder
Police in Sunyani arrested a 23-year-old fashion designer, Benjamin Adjei, for attempting to sacrifice his 13-year-old nephew for money rituals on May 15.
He lured the victim into a taxi to convey him to the venue for the rituals. The police who had laid ambush at the Abesim-Tano police barrier on the Sunyani-Kumasi highway busted him on their way to the shrine.
A handbag containing one cutlass, a knife, red calico, one-pot, some cola nuts, cowries, and a cash sum of GH₵ 300.00 were recovered from him.
Three Arrested For Beheading 12-Year-Old Boy
Three people were also arrested in connection with the gruesome murder of a 12-year-old boy, Cornelius Eboe Negble, at a shrine at Ndogokope, near Tadzewu, in the Volta Region.
The three, Senanu Ashitor Atsikpo, 28; Kudzo Akpatsu, 49; and Etse Louis, 25; kidnapped the victim from his hometown at Nornyikpo, near Ziope, during a funeral on May 20.
They took him to a shrine and killed him for money rituals.
Rashid Ibrahim Arrested For Beheading Bolt Driver
In Rashid Ibrahim’s case, the 32-year-old killed Israel Agyei Manu, a 33-year-old headteacher of Atonsu-based Rogel Montesorri Basic School.
Police in Ashanti Region picked up Rashid Ibrahim on Sunday, July 4, indicating that the suspect who was motivated by riches had confessed to the crime.
He had been promised wealth by some people who instructed him to get a human head for sacrifices.