Bawku arson suspects remanded

Four men suspected to have set a house ablaze in Bawku killing a four-month old pregnant woman, Fatima Majeed, have been remanded in prison custody by a Bolgatanga Circuit court, provisionally charged with arson.

They are to reappear on February 11, 2009.

The suspects are Mustapha Sani, Rahaman Yahaya, both businessmen, Safianu Issifu, and Yakubu Abubakari, a trader. They all reside in Bawku.

Police Inspector John Adgua, prosecuting said on January 23, 2009, at about 2200 hours, the complainant, one Mohammed Majeed, the husband to the deceased, was with his wife in their outer room when they heard raving sounds from motorbikes behind their house.

The prosecutor explained that out of fear and suspicion the couple took refuge at a veranda within the house and gazed at the actions of the suspects, who were six in number.

Two of them, he said, were allegedly armed with riffles while the other four unarmed went straight to the frontage of complainant's junior brother's room, set it ablaze before setting the complainant's room too on fire.

The prosecutor said in the process the complainant's wife whose pregnancy was four months old was trapped in the room and burnt to death.

Mr Adgua said the victims raised the alarm for assistance, which drew many of the neighbours and the Ghana National Fire Service to the scene that helped to extinguish the fire.

The prosecutor indicated that complainant said he identified the four men as being part of the six men, who rode to the house, and set it ablaze.

He said the value of property destroyed in the process is yet to be determined.