Daughter for ritual murder: Accused father seeks bail

Evans Kyekyeku Oppong, the man who allegedly planned to use his daughter for money ritual, has filed an application at the High Court urging it to grant him bail pending his possible trial if he should be committed by the District Court.

The motion for bail is expected to be heard today, August 10, 2022 at the Criminal Division of the High Court in Accra.

The accused, who has been provisionally charged with preparation to commit murder, has since June 20, 2022 been in custody after the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Centre Court in Accra denied him bail.

The prosecution is still awaiting the advice of the Attorney-General after it forwarded a duplicate of the docket to his Office.

He has, through his lawyer, filed an application at the High Court seeking to be granted bail pending the trial depending on the outcome of the Attorney-General’s advice.

Detective Inspector Adisa Walamani, who held brief for Chief Inspector Amoah Richard, told the court last Monday that they were still waiting for the Attorney-General’s advice, and subsequently pleaded with the court to grant them an adjournment.

Counsel for the accused person, Ralph Agyepong, indicated that he has had a lengthy conversation with the Deputy Attorney-General in charge of Criminal Prosecution and will oblige with the prosecution’s request for more time.

The presiding judge, Ama Adomako Kwakye, further remanded the accused person and adjourned the case to August 15 for continuation.

Brief facts

The facts as presented by Chief Inspector Richard Amoah were that the suspect, Evans Kyekyeku Oppong, is the father of victim (name withheld) aged 11.

He said the suspect had been living in Holland for many years but relocated to Ghana a year ago.

The prosecutor told the court that in May, 2022, the suspect discussed with a friend, known as Kwame, that he was facing financial difficulties.

Chief Inspector Amoah told the court that the friend suggested that the suspect would need some spiritual cleansing to turn things around for him, and the friend later introduced the suspect to one Nana Fosu, aka Nana K.K, to assist him see a spiritualist for help.

Rituals

The prosecutor said on May 29, Nana Fosu took the suspect to Nana Adu-Boafo Jnr, who is a spiritualist and a herbalist at Oyibi Kon for money rituals.

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

However, the prosecutor said the suspect later informed the spiritualist that he was afraid of snakes, as such he would come to him for further discussions on what to do.

“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 dates of birth of his last two children to enable him to determine which of them would be suitable for the sacrifice,” the prosecutor said.

Call

The prosecutor said on May 31, the suspect 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 her measurement so that a dress would be sewn for her.

“The suspect furnished the spiritualist with the dates of birth as requested and the spiritualist then 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,” Chief Inspector Amoah further said.

He added that the spiritualist later informed the suspect that he had spiritually checked on the dates of birth of the two children and that the victim would be more suitable for the sacrifice. Subsequently, the spiritualist instructed the suspect to bring the victim to his herbal centre on June 3, 2022.

Ritual, arrest

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

“The suspect arrived at the herbal centre with the victim and she was instructed by the spiritualist to wait 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.

He was then given a concoction to bathe with and in the course of that the spiritualist called in the Oyibi Police who came and arrested him and rescued the victim.

“Investigation is ongoing,” the prosecutor told the court.

Writer’s mail : justice.agbenorsi@graphic.com.gh