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10.06.2007 Crime & Punishment

Tragic Love Affair - Man Butchers Rival

By Daily Graphic
Dinah Akua Brakoa - The Woman at the centre of the tragedy and Joseph Tawiah Obeng the alleged murdererDinah Akua Brakoa - The Woman at the centre of the tragedy and Joseph Tawiah Obeng the alleged murderer
10.06.2007 LISTEN

An adulterous relationship turned tragic last Wednesday, disturbing the serene cottage of Kwaku Larbi Akuraa, near Akyem Takyiman in the Eastern Region, when a 51-year-old farmer allegedly butchered an akpeteshie distiller for having an illicit affair with his wife. The alleged murderer, Joseph Tawiah, caught the deceased, Kofi Odoi, 35, red-handed having sexual intercourse with his wife, Dinah Ama Brakoa, a 36-year-old farmer, in Odoi's bedroom at a cottage called Kwaku Larbi Akuraa situated right in the middle of a cocoa farm.

Tawiah, who could not bear the pain of the awful spectacle, inflicted deep machete wounds on Odoi's neck, backbone and chest, resulting in his death. Dinah fled the village to an unknown destination "after the incident and it was only on Friday afternoon that the police arrested her at Akyem Abenaso. Briefing the Daily Graphic at Akwatia on Friday, the Kade District Police Commander, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Samuel Yeboah, who is temporarily responsible for the Akwatia District, said Tawiah and Dinah have been together for the past eight years.

He said although they did not have any issue, each of them had three children from previous marriages. According to ASP Yeboah, despite the fact that Tawiah was staying with Dinah in his own room at Aboabo cottage, near Akyem Abenaso, she had allegedly been flirting with Odoi, in spite of several warnings from her husband . He said despite the fact that Tawiah performed the customary rites last Month, upon pressure from Dinah, the woman continued with her adulterous relationship with Odoi.

ASP Yeboah stated that around 1.00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6, this year, Dinah left a message for her husband that she was visiting her daughter at Kade. He said being suspicious that his wife had sneaked out to her lover's cottage, Tawiah mustered courage and traced her to the place around 7.00 p.m. The police commander stated that on reaching the cottage, which could only be reached by a footpath and was about a kilometre from the main Abaam-Abenaso road, Tawiah overheard Odoi and Dinah conversing in the room and after assuring himself that his wife was in the room, he knocked on the door.

He said when the suspect persisted in knocking on the door, the deceased was forced to open it. He said the deceased, who was visibly shaken on seeing Tawiah, asked Tawiah of his mission, to which he replied that he was looking for his wife, whom he believed had been camped in his (Odoi's) bedroom. ASP Yeboah said as the woman had taken refuge under the bed, Odoi boldly told Tawiah that Dinah was not with him and that if he was in doubt, he should search for her in the bedroom.

He said as soon as Tawiah entered Odoi's bedroom, he found his wife, who was then naked, hiding under the bed. He brought her out of the room and gave her some slaps. The district commander stated that the deceased, who did not take kindly to the assault on his lover, intervened by attacking Tawiah, with the help of someone whose name was given as Jomo, a drinking friend of the deceased who had been woken from his sleep in a chair in front of the room. He said since Odoi could not beat Tawiah, he suddenly entered his bedroom, took a sharp machete and inflicted a wound on the suspect's head.

ASP Yeboah stated that a struggle ensued between the two rivals, during which Tawiah overpowered Odoi, allegedly snatched the machete from him and inflicted deep wounds on his neck, chest and backbone with it. He said when Odoi sat in his lazy chair bleeding, the suspect threw the machete away and fled to his cottage, a distance of about a kilometre, to sleep. He said Jomo rushed to the nearby cottage to inform the residents about the incident and when they arrived at Odoi's cottage he was found in a pool of blood panting for breath. He died shortly after that.

ASP Yeboah stated that the people lodged a complaint with the Akyem Takyiman Police the following morning and they arrested Tawiah at his Aboabo cottage. At that point in time he did not know that Odoi had died. He said the police also conveyed the body of the deceased to the Akwatia St Dominic's Holy Family Hospital for an autopsy. When the Daily Graphic contacted the suspect for his version, he admitted inflicting machete wounds on Odoi in retaliation for the injury Odoi had inflicted on him, adding that he did not know that Odoi had died, else he would have escaped before the police came to his cottage to apprehend him.

When newsmen and policemen went to Abenaso to find out about the whereabouts of the woman, she was seen trying to solicit for funds to attend hospital to treat an injury she sustained on the right leg during the struggle with her husband. Dinah confessed to newsmen and the police that she was caught red-handed in Odoi's bedroom on Wednesday night. According to her, she decided on the relationship with Odoi because her husband failed to perform the customary rites until about three weeks ago.

Meanwhile, both Tawiah and Dinah have been placed in custody at the Akwatia Police Station pending further investigations into the tragic incident.

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