Father offers 2-year-old daughter for ritual

A 22-year-old man, Kwaku Badu who allegedly sent his two-year-old daughter to a fetish priest to be murdered for rituals to enable him get rich overnight, has been arrested by the Agona Duakwa Police in the Central Region.

Also in police grips is Badu's 22-year-old friend, Kwabena Atta, who accompanied Badu and the child to the shrine at Kwasi Amoakwa, a village near Agona Duakwa.

Chief Superintendent Christian Tetteh Yohuno of the Agona Swedru Divisional Police Command told the Daily Graphic at Swedru that about four months ago, Badu, a native of Akyem Abenase, near Oda, approached the complainant, Okomfo Agesu Kudorkpo, at Kwasi Amoakwa for spiritual assistance to become rich.

He said the fetish priest feigned interest in the request and asked Badu to produce his biological child to be sacrificed for the ritual or pay an amount of GH¢1000 (¢10 million) demanded by his gods who were dwarfs.

According to Chief Supt. Yohuno, Okomfo Agesu said he had been surprised that the suspect, whom he had not known before, approached him for such a sacrifice and, therefore, made a report to the Duakwa Police.

He stated that the police advised the priest to insist that Badu bring the child for the sacrifice and Agesu conveyed the message to the suspect.

The Divisional Police Commander said about 1p.m. on October 18, this year, when Okomfo Agesu and his family were working on their farm at the village, Badu called him on his cell phone that he (Badu) had brought his daughter for the sacrifice.

He stated that Okomfo Agesu returned home at 3p.m. to meet Badu, Atta and the little girl in his house.

Chief Supt. Yohuno said in his bid to cause the arrest of the two suspects, Okomfo Agesu sent for the police and intentionally told his clients that his dwarfs had gone deep into the forest so they should wait for their arrival for the commencement of the rituals.

He said after a while the Police arrested the two suspects and sent them to the Duakwa Police Station and later transferred them to the Agona Nyakrom District Police Headquarters for further investigations.

According to Chief Supt. Yohuno, on October 19, this year, when he called at the Agona Nyakrom District Police Headquarters on his way to Duakwa, the District Police Commander, Superintendent Henry Amankwatia, briefed him on the incident.

He said during in-depth interrogation, Badu confessed that he had gone to Okomfo Agesu's shrine with his daughter because the girl's mother and her grandmother had been worrying him because he was irresponsible.

According to Chief Supt. Yohuno, when the girl's 21-year-old mother, Madam Ama Serwaa, and her mother were brought from Akyem Abenase to the Duakwa Police Station for interrogation, Madam Serwaa said on October 17, this year, Badu had come to her house, in the company of Atta, for the daughter, with the intention of sending her to Akyem Oda to buy her some dresses.

He said Madam Serwaa claimed that she never saw Badu or the daughter again until the police informed her about the nasty incident.

Chief Supt. Yohuno stated that the two suspects would be prosecuted at the law court as soon as possible on charges of conspiracy to commit crime, that is, attempted murder.