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Body of boy killed and secretely buried by parents exhumed

Emelia Ennin Abbey Aug - 14 - 2014 , 12:32

The body of an eight-year-old boy who was allegedly beaten to death by his mother and his stepfather and buried at an abandoned dumpsite at Dome in Accra was exhumed on Tuesday.

Residents of the area trooped to the site to watch the police undertake the exercise, which took more than two hours.

It is believed that the body of Robert Abunbero was secretly buried by his stepfather and his biological mother about 10 p.m. in June 2014 when they realised he was dead after they had beaten him for disobeying their orders.

The two, Michael Kweku Obeng, 27, unemployed, the stepfather, and Comfort Tene Abunbero, 29, trader, the mother of Robert, were allegedly arrested at Dome on July 3, 2014 following a report to the police by Robert’s grandmother.

Grandmother

The grandmother, Mrs Juliana Abunbero, had filed a complaint on July 1, 2014 that she was suspicious of the circumstances surrounding her grandson’s death and wanted the police to investigate the case.

When the police commenced investigations into the matter, Comfort and Obeng informed the police that the boy had been sick.

They are said to have told the police that the boy had a protruding stomach, started vomiting and died while he was being sent to hospital.

The lovers claimed they wrapped the body in a bedspread and buried it at an abandoned dumpsite near their home at Dome Akplaku and covered it with waste to conceal it.

Digging

The Achimota Mile Seven District Police Crime Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police Henry Agbeve, told the Daily Graphic that the police had to obtain a permit from the court to undertake the exhumation to establish the actual cause of death of the boy.

As part of investigations, about 20 policemen, including crime scene officers from the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, joined by a pathologist from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Robert Kumodzi, dug the soil to recover the body.

The team digging the ground covered their noses with masks and wore hand gloves during the exercise.

After digging for about half a metre, they found a decomposed body wrapped in a white cloth. It was then wrapped in a body bag and sent to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

Obeng, the principal suspect in the case, who helped the police to identify the exact location where the body was buried, was booed at by the residents of the area.

Pathologist’s report

Dr Kumodzi told journalists at the site that it could not be concluded if “what has been exhumed is the body of a human or an animal”.

He said that would be established after further examination of the body.

A report on the findings, he said, would be ready in two weeks.

An environmental officer from the Abokobi Municipal Assembly, Mr Derrick Tata Anku, was at the scene to ensure that the place was disinfected after the body had been exhumed.