The Ho District Police Command has arrested a 54-year-old farmer for the alleged murder of his ex-wife at Hodzo-Aviefe in the Ho Municipality of the Volta Region.
The suspect, Emmanuel Dorpe, is alleged to have murdered his ex-wife, Vivian Dorpe last Thursday May 16, 2019 while the deceased was on her way to Church with their 12-year-old son.
The Volta Regional Commander, DCOP Edward Oduro-Kwateng, said the suspect who is a native of Hodzo-Aviefe is reported to have had a protracted marital problem with the deceased, Vivian Dorpe which led to a separation between the two.
To this end, the suspect was to be paying some maintenance fee for the upkeep of their children which was becoming a problem.
He said an extract of occurrence recorded on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at about 7:30 pm at the Tokokoe Police station indicated that the deceased, Viavian reported a case of assault.
Apparently, the suspect had assaulted the deceased the previous day, Monday, May 13, 2019 over lack of maintenance of their children.
The case which was reported to the Tokokoe Police was transferred to the Regional office of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) for investigation.
The couple were subsequently summoned to the Regional DOVVSU office on Friday May 17, 2019 for interrogation.
On Thursday May 16, 2019, a day to the summon date, the suspect reported to the Regional DOVVSU in the company of one Philip Dorgbetor who claimed to have been delegated by the Chief of Hodzo-Aviefe to facilitate the withdrawal of the case from the Police to allow for mediation.
Officers found the basis of the claim fishy and instead formally arrested the suspect, cautioned him and released him on bail to Philip Dorgbetor to report on Friday May 17, 2019, the original summon date.
Unfortunately, the suspect on returning home the same day he was released is alleged to have ambushed his ex-wife and killed her while on her way to church with their 12-year-old son.
Subsequent investigations revealed that there was no intervention by the Chief as claimed by Phillip Dorgbetor and the suspect.
It also emerged that the deceased, in her statement on May 13, 2019 failed to make full disclosure of the attack she reported at the Tokokoe Police.
DCOP Edward Oduro-Kwateng therefore advised the general public to make full disclosure on issues that affect them domestically for appropriate actions to be taken to avert avoidable incidents as in the case of Vivian and Emmanuel.
From Fred Duodu, Ho (k.duodu@yahoo)