My Wife Is A Witch – Banker

John Ametepeh Aheto, a 43-year-old banker who subjected his 37-year-old pregnant wife to beatings with the claim that he was delivering her from some supposed demons, has been arraigned before an Accra Circuit Court.

Ametepeh Aheto, who is said to have assumed the role of a 'priest', is facing three charges of domestic violence to wit, physical abuse, emotional/psychological abuse and threat of harm.

The accused is said to have told the complainant that 'you are a witch, possessed' and locked her up in a room from 8:00 pm to 3:00 am on January 26, 2014, in a manner that made her feel constantly unhappy, miserable, humiliated, ridiculed, afraid, jittery and depressed.

Aheto is also alleged to have threatened his wife that 'if this case is not solved and goes beyond this office, something terrible will happen to you,' with intent to put fear of harm into the complainant.

When the case was called in the court presided over by Ms Sedinam Agbemavah, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and was granted bail in the sum of GH¢ 40,000 with two sureties to reappear on May 15.

Prosecuting, Inspector Kofi Atimbiri said the compliant is an expectant mother and a banker resident at Dabala in the Volta Region.

He said the accused and the complainant had been legally married for the past 10 years and have two children.

According to Inspector Atimbiri, since the inception of their marriage, the woman had been enduring physical assaults, verbal and emotional abuses from the accused and that on several occasions in 2013, the accused subjected his wife to beatings over any least provocation.

He said on January 19, Aheto beat his wife and she escaped from her matrimonial home, adding that on December 15, 2012, the accused took her wife to TB Joshua in Nigeria for deliverance from supposed demons, indicating that on January 26, 2014, the accused locked the wife in their living room from 8:00 pm to 3:00 am, subjecting her to severe beatings, saying he was delivering her from the demons that had possessed her.

Inspector Atimbiri further told the court that Aheto accused the wife of being a witch and refused to eat her food, with the fear of being poisoned.

He said the accused sometimes mixed some concoctions and compelled the wife and the children to drink and used some to bath. The prosecutor maintained that the complainant could not bear the abuses anymore and reported the matter to DOVVSU.

Prosecution stated that Aheto during one of their meetings threatened the wife verbally that if the case went to DOVVSU level without resolution, something terrible would happen to her.

Inspector Atimbiri said as if though that was not enough, Aheto called the wife's elder sister on phone telling her that something terrible will happen to her resulting in the complainant relocating with her children.

Email:  [email protected] mailto:[email protected]

By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson