Abura Dunkwa in the Central Region has been thrown into a state of mourning following the gruesome murder of the chief linguist, Okyeame Kwadjo Mensah, and his wife.
Okyeame Kwadjo Mensah, 48, and Ohemaa Efuah, 42, who is also the queen mother of Ajumako Etumbir in the Central Region, were murdered by some unidentified assailants on Sunday night in their room.
The family woke up yesterday morning to find the throats of their relatives slashed with a sharp object and reported the matter to the police.
The assailants did not take anything from the room after the attack, according to reports.
Confirming the story to DAILY GUIDE, the Director General in charge of the Public Affairs Department of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police, David Eklu, said the Central Regional Police Command received the report yesterday morning and quickly dispatched a team of investigators to the scene.
The couple was found in a pool of blood in the room with their throats slashed.
After conducting preliminary investigations into the matter, the bodies were transported to the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital Morgue pending autopsy.
He said even though no arrests had been made, the police were investigating the issue to apprehend the culprits.
Kwesi Paintsil, brother of the slain linguist, who spoke to journalists, narrated that he was returning from the bathhouse yesterday morning when he heard the news of the murder of his elder brother.
“I came to the scene and entered the room only to discover that their throats had been slashed but their room was not locked and so we reported the matter to the police,” he narrated.
Meanwhile, further information gathered by the paper indicated that Ohemaa Efuah married Okyeame Kwadwo Mensah two years ago.
“The woman had two children while the man also had four children and so after their marriage, the two lived in a separate room while their children also lived in another room but in the same compound house,” they disclosed.
Reports said the couple went to bed Sunday night as usual but in the morning they failed to come out of their room.
At about 9 am, one of their children, who was waiting for the couple to come out of their room to give him ‘pocket money’, knocked on their door but there was no response.
He said they forcibly opened the door and found the bodies of the couple on their matrimonial bed and quickly called other family members to the scene.
Some residents of the area, who expressed shock at the news, said they suspected the assailants were after the chief linguist and not his wife.
They added: “There were some chieftaincy disputes in the area involving the late linguist and we suspect the attackers committed the act due to the case, and for fear of being exposed by the wife, they decided to kill her too.”
(lindatenyah@gmail.com)
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey