3 Arrested For Murder

Three men are in the grips of the Volta Regional Police Command for allegedly killing a woman and burying her secretly in a bush at Nkonya-Adenkensu about a year ago. The prime suspect, Aboagye Da-Costa, 55, has been on remand for about a year, while the other two suspects, Derrick Kwabena Mensah aka Agbolozo, 48, and Stephen Asiakwa 55, aka TCP, were arrested recently. The two others were arrested after a fetish priest living near Abotoase hinted the police that the three had visited his shrine to be fortified against the spirit of a woman they claimed was haunting them. At a press briefing yesterday, the Volta Regional Police Commander, Alex Bedie, disclosed that the skeleton and pieces of clothes of the woman, Emma Asamoah, 51 years, were identified by her children after some farmers dug them out. The farmers, who were hunting snails and grasscutters, discovered the skeletal remains after accidentally digging a shallow grave in a farm near Adenkensu on the March 17, 2012. DCOP Bedie explained that one Francis Asamoah had reported the disappearance of her mother, Emma Asamoah, after she had gone to her farm to collect nine bags of maize, being her share of farm produce from Aboagye Da-Costa at Adenkensu. Aboagye was apparently employed by the woman to farm on her land and share the farm produce on agreed terms. She however mysteriously disappeared and Aboagye was subsequently arrested to assist in investigations. Aboagye explained that Emma loaded her share of nine bags of maize on an unknown Kia truck and left for the Kpeve market. He added that he saw a shovel, cutlass and pick-axe, in the truck. When he was in custody at the Wurupong Police Station, Aboagye sent Stephen Asiakwa for his clothes in which a mobile phone belonging to Madam Asamoah was found and his bunch of keys. The police referred the case to the Attorney General�s Department at Ho and they were advised that Aboagye should be charged with murder while investigations should continue until the mystery was unraveled. He said on March 17, the police had information that some human skeletons had been discovered by some farmers near Adenkensu. As a result, CID operatives were dispatched to the scene where they dug out the bones, skull, hair and pieces of cloth identified to belong to Madam Asamoah by her children. A fetish priest at Abotoase who had heard about the disappearance of Madam Asamoah told the police that the three had consulted him to fortify them against the spirit of the woman who was haunting them. They have since denied this allegation. Meanwhile, Aboagye Da-Costa, who has been in prison custody, will appear before court on April 16, 2012.