Pastor to hang for murder
A Ho High Court presided over by Justice George Buadi on July 18, 2023 sentenced a self-styled pastor, Felix Bamfo, to death by hanging for the gruesome murder of a 47-year-old woman he promised to seek financial assistance for.
Advertisement
The incident took place at Viepe near Denu in the Volta Region almost six years ago.
After killing the woman, Bamfo chopped off her limbs and removed her breast and private part.
The body was found in the woods about 500 metres away from his house.
A seven-member jury pronounced him guilty of murder, after retiring for seven minutes.
Principal State Attorney, Moses Ayine Asampoa, told the court that the incident took place on November 12, 2017.
That was after the pastor, who claimed to be the leader of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, at Adiddogorme in Togo, lured his victim, Evelyn Homanu, from Taifa Burkina in Accra to Viepe, near Denu in the Volta Region, on the pretext of helping her to solve her financial problems by taking her to Togo for a loan.
First encounter
The prosecution said the deceased first met Bamfo, 47, some time in 2016, when he took her through prayer sessions to heal her of an undisclosed spiritual ailment.
Since that encounter, the prosecution said, cordial ties grew between the two.
On November 10, 2017, the deceased called the ‘pastor’ to discuss her financial problems with him, whereupon the pastor asked her to come over to Viepe on November 12, 2017 and sleep over.
The court was told that the ‘pastor’ told the woman to sleep over at Viepe so they could both wake up early the next morning for the trip to Togo for the loan.
The prosecution said the woman obliged and informed her mother and husband before embarking on the trip to Viepe at about 5.30 p.m. that day.
Missing
After that, all efforts by her husband to contact her on her cellular phone proved futile.
The prosecution said on November 13, the husband of the deceased, Kwabla Wohoyie, who was a driver based in Agbozume, travelled to Viepe to meet the pastor who denied seeing the deceased.
Subsequently , the husband of the deceased reported the matter to the police.
During interrogation, Bamfo denied hosting the deceased.
However, the police had a tip-off that a human body was in the thickets nearby Mifetu Korpe.
The police went to the scene and found a mutilated body with the intestines gushing out, said the prosecution.
According to the prosecution, Bamfo readily identified the highly decomposed body at the scene as that of the missing woman.
Cellular phone records
Later, investigations by the police revealed that there were a series of telephone conversations between Bamfo and the deceased on November 12, 2016.
Advertisement
The court heard that the itemised bills and records on the cellular phone of the deceased revealed that their last conversation took place at 11.55 p.m. on November 12, prior to her death, with signals indicating that the conversation took place at Viepe.
Investigations by the police also revealed that while Bamfo was in police custody, his son, Kindness Mba, and wife, Blessing Amegah, conveyed the body of the deceased in a ‘Ghana-Must-Go’ bag to the bush, the prosecution added.
The two have since been at large, according to the prosecution.
In his caution statement, the prosecution said Bamfo admitted receiving calls from the deceased who informed him that she was coming over to Viepe but maintained she never came to him.
Advertisement
During a search in the room of the deceased, the police retrieved human hair and finger nails wrapped in paper, and a towel with blood stains.
A post-mortem examination on the body at the Police Hospital in Accra gave the cause of death as strangulation.
The court said despite the vehement denials by Bamfo, the prosecution had proved its case beyond doubt.
A Ho High Court presided over by Justice George Buadi on July 18, 2023 sentenced a self-styled pastor, Felix Bamfo, to death by hanging for the gruesome murder of a 47-year-old woman he promised to seek financial assistance for.
Advertisement
The incident took place at Viepe near Denu in the Volta Region almost six years ago.
After killing the woman, Bamfo chopped off her limbs and removed her breast and private part.
The body was found in the woods about 500 metres away from his house.
A seven-member jury pronounced him guilty of murder, after retiring for seven minutes.
Principal State Attorney, Moses Ayine Asampoa, told the court that the incident took place on November 12, 2017.
That was after the pastor, who claimed to be the leader of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, at Adiddogorme in Togo, lured his victim, Evelyn Homanu, from Taifa Burkina in Accra to Viepe, near Denu in the Volta Region, on the pretext of helping her to solve her financial problems by taking her to Togo for a loan.
First encounter
The prosecution said the deceased first met Bamfo, 47, some time in 2016, when he took her through prayer sessions to heal her of an undisclosed spiritual ailment.
Since that encounter, the prosecution said, cordial ties grew between the two.
On November 10, 2017, the deceased called the ‘pastor’ to discuss her financial problems with him, whereupon the pastor asked her to come over to Viepe on November 12, 2017 and sleep over.
The court was told that the ‘pastor’ told the woman to sleep over at Viepe so they could both wake up early the next morning for the trip to Togo for the loan.
The prosecution said the woman obliged and informed her mother and husband before embarking on the trip to Viepe at about 5.30 p.m. that day.
Missing
After that, all efforts by her husband to contact her on her cellular phone proved futile.
The prosecution said on November 13, the husband of the deceased, Kwabla Wohoyie, who was a driver based in Agbozume, travelled to Viepe to meet the pastor who denied seeing the deceased.
Subsequently , the husband of the deceased reported the matter to the police.
During interrogation, Bamfo denied hosting the deceased.
However, the police had a tip-off that a human body was in the thickets nearby Mifetu Korpe.
The police went to the scene and found a mutilated body with the intestines gushing out, said the prosecution.
According to the prosecution, Bamfo readily identified the highly decomposed body at the scene as that of the missing woman.
Cellular phone records
Later, investigations by the police revealed that there were a series of telephone conversations between Bamfo and the deceased on November 12, 2016.
The court heard that the itemised bills and records on the cellular phone of the deceased revealed that their last conversation took place at 11.55 p.m. on November 12, prior to her death, with signals indicating that the conversation took place at Viepe.
Investigations by the police also revealed that while Bamfo was in police custody, his son, Kindness Mba, and wife, Blessing Amegah, conveyed the body of the deceased in a ‘Ghana-
Must-Go’ bag to the bush, the prosecution added.
The two have since been at large, according to the prosecution.
In his caution statement, the prosecution said Bamfo admitted receiving calls from the deceased who informed him that she was coming over to Viepe but maintained she never came to him.
During a search in the room of the deceased, the police retrieved human hair and finger nails wrapped in paper, and a towel with blood stains.
A post-mortem examination on the body at the Police Hospital in Accra gave the cause of death as strangulation.
The court said despite the vehement denials by Bamfo, the prosecution had proved its case beyond doubt.