A 22-year-old woman, identified as Lydia Ayampali, was shot at Kenyase-Abrem in the Ashanti Region while returning home from the December 31st watch night service.
According to the family of the deceased, the tragic incident happened when Lydia closed from the watch night service and was returning home in a tricycle with two other passengers.
Lydia was shot in the head while carrying her one-year-old baby and the pellets affected the child.
She was later rushed to the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Narrating the incident, the tricycle driver, Alhassan Seidu Abubakar, said, “I was around Abrem station when these two ladies came to board the tricycle. Immediately after I took off, I heard a loud sound. I thought it was a knockout [firecracker]. I did not know it was a gunshot. But I felt the heat on my neck, so I stopped the tricycle, checked my back, and realized the lady had been shot.”
“I got scared, and I screamed. That was when the other lady realized something had happened to her sister. At that moment, I couldn’t do anything, so a guy helped me carry them in his car, and we took her to the nearest hospital. They said it was an emergency, so they asked us to take her to Manhyia Hospital. But when we got there, they also said we should take her to Okomfo Anokye Hospital, so when we got there, the doctors confirmed that she was dead.”
Lydia’s uncle, Yaw Ghaatoun, said, “We heard that the person responsible for this is a fetish priest, and this is not the first time he has shot someone. Ours is the third of its kind.”
Mr Ghaatoun added that the culprit had been remanded in custody for two weeks.
The father of the deceased, Kwame Bohitana and the entire family are calling on the authorities for justice.