Tragedy - Woman kills husband in sleep

A 20-year-old marriage between Michael Opey Lamptey and Rebecca Lamptey has ended in tragedy as the wife is alleged to have hit the husband’s head several times with a flat grinding stone, while he was asleep, leading to his death.

The Eastern Regional Police Command is still working to unravel the cause of the attack.

Lamptey, 52, died yesterday in the couple’s four-bedroom house at Aboabo, near Koforidua in the Eastern Region.

The police have since picked up the suspect, Madam Lamptey, 45, suspected to be having some mental challenges.

Report

The Eastern Regional Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ebenezer Tetteh, told the Daily Graphic that the case was reported by a brother of the deceased, who was in the house at the time of the incident.

According to him, the brother, Mr Ebenezer Opey Teye, reported to the station at about 5:30 p.m. last Thursday that Rebecca had used a flat grinding stone to hit the head of her husband “grievously harming him to death”.

“After hitting him, she was heard calling a relative that she has killed the man, so the man’s brother who overheard her, sneaked out of the house quietly to report,” DSP Tetteh recounted.

Scene

After the report, the police proceeded to the scene to ascertain the veracity of the matter.

“We inspected the body and found out that the deceased was lying in a pool of blood severely injured in the head with the face completely deformed,” he stated.

The body has since been deposited at the St Joseph’s Hospital in Koforidua for preservation and autopsy.

Meanwhile, the stone used in the alleged killing has been retrieved and retained at the Eastern Regional Police Command as exhibit.

Background

DSP Tetteh said information available to the police indicated that it was not the first time Rebecca Lamptey had violently attacked her late husband and that according to the family “she once hit him with a pestle.”

The first attack was reported at the Koforidua office of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU).

Family sources also indicated that at one time, the woman was sent to the psychiatric hospital for treatment when she started behaving violently towards the man.

“Sources also indicate that sometimes, hysterically, she will start complaining about her failure to have children after being married for so long,” he added.

DSP Tetteh said family sources also told the police that the man never worried her with those issues and happily lived with her in their matrimonial home until the unfortunate incident.

Family account

The couple, according to a relation, Mr Abraham Kakutey, were married in 1996. They had no children.

He expressed surprise at the turn of events since he had never heard of any misunderstanding between them prior to the incident.

Mr Kakutey indicated that the suspect operated a shop in front of the house.