Four Dead in suspected murders, suicide on New Year’s Day

Two communities in the Central and the Savannah regions were plunged into a state of shock and mourning on New Year’s Day.

At Abrobiano in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem municipality in the Central Region, a couple were found dead in their room, while, at Mojepe, a farming community near Salaga in the Savannah Region, two men were shot dead, allegedly over the collection of royalties from some settlers.

The Abrobiano incident reportedly occurred after the couple had returned from the 31st December Watch-night Service.

The couple, John Ekow Baidoo, aged about 45, and his wife, Afua Atta, aged about 40, are said to have attended the service and returned home around 1 a.m., after which they retired to bed.

It was their six-year-old girl who woke up early in the morning on New Year’s Day to find her mother lying dead in a pool of blood, while her father hanged dead from the ceiling of the room.

The little girl screamed for help.

Crime scene

Some neighbours who responded to the child’s distress call told the police and the Daily Graphic that when they went into the room, they saw the woman lying in a pool of blood on the bed, with a knife while the man, in a pair of jeans but bare-chested, hanged on the ceiling from a cover cloth extended with a scarf as a rope.

Police

The Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem District Police Commander, Superintendent Mr Entsuah Annan, told the Daily Graphic that the police suspected suicide and possible murder.

Mr Annan confirmed the neighbours’ description of the crime scene and said additionally that the woman was found lying on her left side in a pool of blood with a bloodied knife by her side. She also had some cuts in the palm, suggesting that there was some struggle with her assailant.

"For now we are not sure. It’s a case of a possible suicide and murder. It could be that the man murdered the woman and hanged himself later; it could be that they both planned to commit suicide. We are not sure," he said.

Supt Annan said the distraught six-year-old girl, who slept in the room with her parents, said she did not see the parents involved in any misunderstanding before she drifted off to sleep after they had all returned from church.

"We are picking information to help in investigations and also waiting for the report from the post mortem," he indicated.

Shocked community

Some residents of Abrobiano who spoke to the Daily Graphic expressed shock over the incident.

Those who live close to the couple’s residence said they could not give reasons for the incident, as the couple were not the ‘quarrelsome’ type.

“They are a regular couple and we have not witnessed any fight or quarrel between them. We hope the police can help unravel this, as we cannot explain how and why it happened. The whole community is still in shock over this,” one of the residents said.

The bodies of the two have been deposited at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital morgue, while the police continue with their investigations.

Mojepe

In the Mojepe incident in which two people were shot and killed, the Savannah Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Enoch Adutwum Bediako, told the Daily Graphic that the chief of Kpalbusi, a town in the North East Gonja District, near Salaga, under which the Mojepe village fell, had sent some messengers to Mojepe on New Year’s Day to collect royalties, but they were sent away.

Consequently, some aggrieved youth from Kpalbusi followed up to Mojepe to find out why the chief’s emissaries were sent away, and that resulted in confusion.

In the melee that ensued, he said, the factions exchanged gunshots, resulting in the two deaths.

The Police Commander said no arrests had been made yet, and that although Mojepe remained deserted, a combined team of policemen and soldiers had been deployed there to maintain law and order to forestall reprisal attacks.

He said the bodies of the deceased, male adults, were at the Tamale Teaching Hospital mortuary for autopsy and preservation.

DCOP Bediako revealed that the Savannah Regional Minister, Mr Salifu Adam Braimah, who is the Chairman of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC), had visited Mojepe and appealed to the people to remain calm, while security men continued to maintain their presence in Kpalbusi and Mojepe to ensure law and order.