Life photograph of Nene Mensah Zortovie. INSET: Charred corpse of the late chief in the hearse.
POLICE HAVE launched a nationwide manhunt to track down some ‘most wanted’ criminals who reportedly set the late chief of Tehey, Nene Mensah Zortovie ablaze and shot to death a mourner in the midst of confusion over burial space in Tehey, a suburb of Ada West in the Greater Accra Region.
Police said they would employ all possible investigation skills, including the use of social media, to seek information about the whereabouts of the alleged offenders who may have left the area and are now hiding outside the vicinity.
It would be recalled that last Saturday confusion was triggered when the remains of the late Mensah Zortorvie was burnt together with the hearse at Tehey in Ada West District.
A mourner, Ofori Sabbah, was killed as a result of the riot between two factions of the Zortovie Family of Ada.
Details emerged that there has been a long standing dispute among the members of the Zortovie Family of Tamatoku and Tehey over ownership of the Tehey land.
The family members have been litigating over the Tehey land for the past years prior to the death of Nene Zortovie of Tehey. However, a section of the Zortovie family applied for a court injunction to restrain the family of the deceased from burying him in his private premises at Tehey. The deceased’s family having been served with the court order late on Saturday disregarded the injunction and decided to go ahead and bury the dead body.
The opposing faction whom police mentioned as prime suspects of the shooting, killing and burning incident opened fire on the mourners with bullets hitting innocent mourners. Five of them were rushed to the Bator Catholic Hospital and Ada East District Hospital for immediate medical attention.
Unfortunately, one Ofori Sabbah, a 40-year-old mourner who is believed to have sustained gunshot wounds and bruises lost his life after the incident which had eventually turned the whole Tehey into a ghost town.
In an interview with DAILY GUIDE via telephone, Chief Superintendent, George Kumah, the Ada Divisional Police Commander, indicated that police were deploying all possible intelligence skills to arrest and bring the perpetrators to book.
According to him, after the incident the offenders had disappeared from the community but the police are still on their heels.
However, he appealed to the eyewitnesses and the public to assist with credible tip-offs to crack down the attackers.
From Vincent Kubi, Tema