Michael Darko, Ekow Clarke Quansah
CHRISTOPHER EKOW Clarke Quansah, the Tufuhene of Acquakrom, a suburb of Mankessim, and his accomplice, self-styled pastor Michael Darko, have allegedly confessed to killing four people in all, Georgina Asor Botchwey, being the last victim.
A source, which disclosed this to the GNA, said the accused persons had confessed to killing three other people, a male and two females, before Asor, and led the police team last Thursday afternoon, to the various locations.
In Mankessim, the two took the police team to a location where a male teacher was allegedly shot and killed, and his toes cut.
The police were also taken to a location in the Ekumfi District where they allegedly shot and killed a female trader and buried her under a bridge.
The team also visited a location at Batanya in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District, where they allegedly killed a young lady from Kumasi.
According to the police, they are also following a lead on a possible third victim who might have been murdered by the suspects.
That investigation, according to sources, has led to the discovery of two more cases, a male and a female, bringing the cases to four.
Modus Operandi
The two pretended to be travel agents and prepared a travelling document for her to travel to Holland. The two allegedly told the police that they met the lady at Batanya on the Cape Coast-Assin Fosu Highway and killed her.
The police team had led the two accused persons, who allegedly confessed to the killing of two more people, to the house of the Tufuhene, located just after the Pacific Fuel Station, near the Mankessim Lorry Station for further investigations.
The crowd hooted at them as drivers in traffic temporarily stopped over to watch them. The police thoroughly searched the rooms and took vital documents and information for further investigation.
The team also visited a location at Batanya in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamakese District, where they allegedly killed a young lady from Kumasi, Gloria Yeboah, a petty trader, from Obokrom in Kumasi.
She was reported missing sometime in June 2022 when she left home in her quest to travel abroad.
According to a statement released by police, the suspects lured the deceased to Accra on June 17, 2022, and took her to Mankessim under the pretext of preparing her to travel to Holland. However, she was later killed by them.
The body of the deceased has been found and the police have located her family, who have identified her as Gloria Yeboah.
“Police is providing the necessary support to the family in these difficult times,” a statement dated Friday, September 30, 2022, said.
The family of late Gloria Yeboah was at the mortuary in Cape Coast last Thursday afternoon, where they identified the body of their relative.
Meanwhile, a crack team of police personnel from the Central Regional Command were also led by the accused persons to arrest a 26-year-old mason in Mankessim, in connection with the alleged murder.
Report says the third suspect, identified as one Abbey, the in-law of Quansah, has been arrested.
According to the sources, Quansah confessed to having hired the husband of one Esi Akyere to dig the pit in his houses at Mankessim.
The police swiftly moved to the community, and with the backing of the chiefs arrested Abbey, who initially denied the act but later admitted to digging the pit for GH¢50.
Abbey, one of the leaders of the Youth Volunteer Group in the community, said he was paid the agreed amount in instalments of GH¢20 and GH¢30 respectively after the work.
Baffled by the revelation of the suspect, the sources said, the chiefs assembled all the members of the Youth Volunteer Group and impressed on them to confess if they were complicit in the murder case, but they all denied any knowledge of it.
The sources also said police personnel had been stationed at the deserted family house of the Tufuhene where two dugout holes were found in two obscure and dirty separate rooms, while it had also intensified patrols.
Nana Akwa III, Chief of Akwakrom, at a press conference, called for the arrest and inquiry into the activities of a fetish priest in the community and one Kwesi Gyan, the Abiradze Ebusuapayin of the Tufuhene, who could not be tracked since the news broke out.
“We are appealing to the police to interrogate his fetish priest in the community who the Tufuhene liked so much and took cover prior to his arrest,” Nana Akwa pleaded.
Nana Akwa, who is also a legal practitioner, wondered how the Tufuhene dug the craters containing numerous bottles and dead materials without the knowledge of the Ebusuapanyin.
“Since the arrest of the Tufuhene, all attempts to reach his Ebusuapanyin, who was always in the community, have not been successful. There is no way anyone can dig out two pits in two separate rooms in a family house without the knowledge of the Ebusuapanyin. This is incomprehensible.
“More so, prior to the arrest of the Tufuhene, his Ebusuapanyin was billed to meet the chief and elders on some teething community issues, but he cannot be found. And why is he not answering our calls,” the chief revealed.
The District Court II in Cape Coast has remanded the self-styled pastor and the Tufuhene into police custody to reappear before the court on October 4, 2022.
The late Georgina Asor Botchwey
BY Vincent Kubi