Following an autopsy report which indicated that Yaw Bondam, 33, and Nicolas Fianyo, 25, died from being hit with heavy objects rather than lightning as initially claimed, the Assin Foso Divisional Police Command moved swiftly and arrested nine persons suspected to have committed the crime.
The nine are Yaw Owusu, 26, farmer; Kofi Tawiah, 42, farmer; Kwasi Ayisah, 42, palm wine tapper; George Tweneboah, 34, farmer and Tetteh Galloway, 42, also a farmer. The rest are Denis Adoba, 52, farmer; Francis Ransford Oppong aka Apitipi, 48, Charles Eyiah aka Kwame Clinton, 30, and Ebenezer Amuzu aka Ogyatanaa, 29, a farmer and herbalist.
They were all arraigned on Monday, charged with two counts of murder except Ogyatanaa who was charged with abetment.
The court presided over by Mr. Joseph Blay did not take their plea and remanded them into police custody until March 8, 2011.
They had no legal representation when the case was called. According to ASP J.K. Ansu, Assin Foso Divisional Crime Officer, the deceased, together with the accused persons except Ogyatanaa, went to drink palm wine on a farm at Wawaase. Whilst there, it started raining so some of the accused persons sought shelter at a nearby cottage.
After the rain, Ayisah claimed he came back to the scene and saw Bondam and Fianyo’s lifeless bodies and that of the three dogs. ASP Ansu said Ayisah raised an alarm and Yaw Owusu came around so he was asked to rush to Wawaase to inform the deceased family.
He said instead of informing the police about the incident, the accused persons went to the cottage of Ogyatanaa to get him to perform rituals after which the herbalist told them that it was lightning that struck and killed Bondam and Fianyo.
He said Ogyatanaa then asked the family members to take the bodies away for burial which they did. On February 11, 2011 at about 8:30 pm, the police were hinted that two bodies had been deposited at the St. Francis Catholic Hospital at Foso with multiple cutlass wounds on their chests, heads and other parts of their bodies.
ASP Ansu said the police subsequently brought in a pathologist from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi to conduct autopsy and the results confirmed that Bondam and Fianyo were indeed hit with heavy objects.
According to the pathologist, Bondam suffered severe neck burns, chest injuries with massive bleeding from the chest cavity and there were indications of severe assault.
On the body of Fianyo, the pathologist reported that he suffered subdural bleeding as a result of a head injury and had also been heavily assaulted. The matter is still under investigation.
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9 Nabbed For Murder