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Ritual murder: Couple arrested for burying two-year-old son

Police in the Central Region has arrested a couple for burying their two-year-old son alive at Asikuma Odobeng Brakwa.

Paul Adobaw and his wife Yaa Atta acted on the instructions of a fetish priestess to bury the boy who could not walk nor speak since childbirth.

The self-styled prophetess, Ama Nkansah, had told the suspects that the baby was a spirit child from a river, and if they do not return the baby to the river gods, the couple will continue giving birth to such babies.

The couple and the prophetess took the baby to the backyard of a tenant near a stream called Gyankobeng.

At about 12:20 am on May 27,  they dug a grave, performed some rituals on the child, and buried him alive.

A tenant, Abubakari Mohammed, who saw the three in the act, lodged a report at the Brakwa Police Station on the same day at about 3:30 am.

The complainant said he woke up from bed and saw Paul Adobaw alias Kojo Okor, his landlord, and two women, one holding a child, digging the ground behind their house.

Abubakari said Paul told him that they were carrying out a traditional rite, but he later detected that they buried a child.

Police then proceeded and arrested Paul Adobaw and went together with the complainant to the scene at Awoyo street, a suburb of Breman Brakwa.

Behind the building of Abubakari, a grave was discovered.

After removing the sand covering the opening, the body of Yaw Adobaw, the two-year-old son of Paul, was found lying naked in a prone position.

The body was exhumed, washed, and inspected by the police.

Blood was found oozing from the nostrils, and the mouth and the body was conveyed and deposited at Our Lady of Grace Hospital Mortuary Breman Asikuma for preservation and autopsy.

The deceased is the fourth child of the couple who has five children in total.

The father, Paul, is currently in police custody assisting investigations while efforts are being made to arrest the self-styled prophetess who is on the run.

Parents of a disabled three-month-old baby under pressure to kill the child

The most recent of such cases was in the Kpandai District of the Northern Region.

35-year-old Mary Nyon delivered at the Evangelical Church of Ghana in Kpandai on  January 31, 2021, but the baby did not have hands.

Mary and her husband Kwaku Vigbedor were pressured by family, friends and village chiefs to end the life of the baby.

“My friends and loved ones do not want to get closer to me now. I have also decided not to allow outsiders to get access to the baby so they will not attribute any misfortune in the community to my child. I have had misunderstanding and quarrels with my in-laws.

“My in-law says my child will die if she enters her house.” Mr Vidbefor narrated.

However, the couple has vowed to fight to keep their child alive as they seek assistance to fend of any attempts by village leaders.

Spirit Child

The practice of killing babies who were born with disabilities are common in certain parts of the country.

The kids are usually labelled as ‘spirit children’ and those who hold the belief claim they bring bad luck to their parents and family.

In some instances, they are poisoned by native doctors and buried in isolated areas where they are said to return to the spirit world.

Spirit children are referred to as ‘chichuru’ or ‘kinkiriko’ in the Kassena-Nankana district in Northern Ghana.

The barbaric act was highlighted in 2013 by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas in his ‘Spirit Child’ undercover investigation film on the ritual killings of deformed children.

Two concoction men were later charged with attempted murder and another three men charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

The practice is not limited to Ghana but spread across other places in sub-Saharan Africa.

Similar practices include “witch babies in Benin, snake children in Mali and the Ivory Coast, spirit children in Guinea-Bissau, and ‘mingi’ children in Tanzania.

 

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