Police Arrest Queen Of Atronie

The Sunyani Police have arrested the queen of Atronie, Nana Wirekoaa Afriyie, for allegedly instigating the mob action which led to the murder of Mr Anthony Yeboah Boateng, Administrator of the Goaso Government Hospital, at Atronie, near Sunyani, on Easter Sunday.

She is also alleged to have been harbouring two of his sons, who are said to be prime suspects in the gruesome murder of Mr Boateng, who was also the Presiding Member (PM) of the Asunafo North District Assembly in the Brong Ahafo Region.

The Sunyani Municipal Police Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSOP), Mr Christian T. Yohunu, who made this known to the Daily Graphic in Sunyani yesterday, said the queen was arrested in her hide-out at Penkwase, a suburb of Sunyani, after several days of playing 'hide and seek' with the police.

According to the Municipal Police Commander, before the arrest of Nana Afriyie on Wednesday, she had sent a letter to the Managing Director of Oti Yeboah Complex Limited, at Abesim, near Sunyani, Mr Oti Yeboah, asking for ¢600,000 to enable her to meet some urgent financial obligations.

Mr Yohuno indicated that upon a tip-off that the queen had sent the letter to Mr Oti Yeboah, the police traced the bearer of the letter, Ms Adwoa Addae, who is a sister-in-law of the queen, and arrested her.

However, he said, the police granted her a self-recognisance bail, to enable her to assist them in their investigations, which finally led to the arrest of the queen at Penkwase.

According to Mr Yohunu, the letter was written after the queen's verbal request for the monetary assistance was rejected by the company.

Meanwhile, the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs has condemned what they called an the atrocious crime.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the first emergency general meeting of the house for the year 2007, the chiefs appealed to the security agencies to expedite action on the investigations in order that the perpetrators might face the full rigours of the law.

In the communiqué, signed by the Registrar of the House, Mr S.R. Takyi, the chiefs said “the people of Atronie had transcended shame onto the people of the region for the barbaric act in which such a potential young man was clubbed to death, despite the deceased's attempt to explain his innocence to his assailants”.

The chiefs impressed upon the youth and people of Brong Ahafo and Ghana as a whole not to indulge in any form of instant justice to an alleged offender but to respect the laws of the land.

The communiqué conveyed the condolences of the chifs to the bereaved family, the widow and children for the irreplaceable loss they had suffered.

Mr Yeboah Boateng, 38, in the company of his wife, a Roman Catholic nun and a nurse, was murdered in cold blood, by a group of young men, on suspicion that he belonged to an alleged criminal gang of serial killers in the Atronie neighbourhood.

The deceased was said to be conveying the corpse of his mother-in-law to the Goaso Government Hospital, when he was clubbed to death by the youth, who also attempted to set his body and car ablaze. The three women in his company were, however, rescued by a policeman.

Story by Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah