The suspect, Paul Adobaw, aka Kojo Okor
The man who allegedly buried his son alive at Breman Brakwa in the Central Region has been remanded into police custody by Breman Assikuma Magistrate Court.
The court, presided over by Her Honour Araba Nunoo, remanded Paul Adobaw, aka Kojo Okor, to reappear in court on August 31, 2021 to enable the police to continue with their investigations.
The accused carried out the criminal act together with his wife, Yaa Ataa, 38, on the orders of a supposed prophetess identified as Ama Nkansah believed to head the Christ Faith Tabernacle Church, Gomoa Eshiem.
They had buried the year-and-half old son alive at the back of their house near a stream called Gyankobeng.
According to the Central Regional Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Irene Oppong, the police are on a manhunt for the said prophetess who is currently at large while Ataa is on police enquiry bail because she is nursing a two-week-old baby.
Briefing the media, DSP Oppong said on Thursday, May 27 around 3:30pm, one Abubakari Mohammed, 59, accompanied by Kwesi Afriyie reported at Brakwa Police Station that around 12:30am that midnight, he woke up and saw Paul Adobaw who is his landlord together with two women, one holding a child, digging the ground behind the house.
She said the complainant said he questioned his landlord who told him that they were carrying out a traditional rite.
“The complainant said he later detected that his landlord and the two women rather buried the child they were carrying alive,” DSP Oppong disclosed.
DSP Oppong said police arrested Adobaw and proceeded with the complainant to the scene at Awoyo Street, a suburb of Breman Brakwa, where the child was buried.
“The body was exhumed, washed and inspected by the police, and they saw blood in the victim’s nostrils and mouth, suggesting he might have been manhandled before being buried,” DSP Oppong added.
She said police preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect, married to Ataa at Brakwa, together have five children, and the victim was their fourth child.
The suspect claimed the deceased had not been able to walk at age one and a half year and subsequently, he consulted the prophetess at Gomoa Eshiem for assistance.
She said the suspect claimed the prophetess told him that the child was spiritually possessed by a river close to their town and if he (suspect) does not return the baby to the river gods, he will continue giving birth to such babies.
“That in the wee hours of Thursday, May 27, 2021, the suspect and the prophetess sent the baby to the backyard of the complainant house near a stream called Gyankobeng where they dug a grave, performed some rituals on the child, and buried him alive,” DSP Oppong concluded.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey