The Kulpeliga community in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region was on Thursday thrown into a state of grief when a 35-year-old self-styled fetish priest allegedly slashed the throats of his wife and two-year-old daughter.
The suspect,Tindana Mbaweni claimed his wife, Abigail Talata,25, and daughter, Nyapoka Mbaweni were both witches and so he had to kill them as an act of self-defence.
He also reportedly injured one of his sons in the process.
The suspect has since been remanded into police custody, pending further investigations while the bodies of the deceased have been deposited at the morgue of the Regional Hospital at Bolgatanga.
Briefi
Briefing Graphic Online on the incident on Friday, June 28, this year, the Upper East Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police(DCOP), Mr Osei Kwaku Ampofo Duku, stated that at about 12 p.m on Thursday, he had information that a man had reportedly killed some members of his family and so he quickly dispatched a team of police officers to the crime scene.
According to the commander, he was further informed that some of the members of the Kulpeliga community had locked up the suspect in a room to hand him over to the police.
However, Mr Ampofo Duku said, the situation became chaotic when another group from the community demanded that the suspect be released to them for him to be attacked because of the incident.
That, he added, he therefore called for reinforcement from the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Unit of the Police who went to bring the situation under control, and subsequently brought the suspect from the community to regional police headquarters for further investigations.
The suspect,according to Mr Ampofo Duku, upon interrogation claimed that his wife and daughter had both mobilised other witches in the community to kill him (the suspect) and so he had to defend himself from being harmed by the witches.
Psychiatric
DCOP Ampofo Doku said further interrogation of the suspect revealed that he was incoherent in his thoughts, and his speech appeared to be having a foreign accent which prompted the police to further probe to find out if he had ever travelled abroad or out of the country.
The suspect replied in the affirmative, saying he usually travelled outside Ghana as the spirits helped him to do that.
The commander noted that this conduct by the suspect gave the police an indication that they might have to seek clearance from the Bolgatanga District Magistrate Court where the suspect was sent later for further examination to be conducted on the suspect by a Psychiatrist.
DCE
The Talensi District Chief Executive, Dr Christopher Boatbil Sormiteyema, for his part said calm has been restored in the community after police came to the scene and the suspect as well as the bodies were sent away from the community.
The DCE further noted that some reports suggested that the suspect has a “mental problem” but he indicated that the police were still investigating the issue and at the right time, all the facts of the matter would be established.
Source: Graphic
