The awesome façade of the shrine
THE Fetish Priest whose television advertisement is believed to have ‘influenced’ two teenagers in Kasoa in the Central Region to kill an 11-year-old boy for money ritual, has been identified as one Solomon Adjololo.
The fetish priest, popularly known as Rasta, is an ex-convict who hails from Aflao in the Volta Region.
He started his so-called spiritual business at Somanya, then moved to Amanhyia, a community along the Nankese to Suhum road in the Eastern Region. After serving his sentence, he is said to have moved to the outskirts of Amanase near Suhum.
Wife’s Arrest
His Togolese wife, identified as Charity Mensah, also a fetish priestess, who is nursing a two-week-old baby, was arrested in a Rambo style on Wednesday by police officers from Accra, but Rasta was not at home at the time.
Another person called Desmond Nii Adjei was also picked up during the raid.
Ex-convict
In 2017, Rasta was jailed for four years by the Koforidua Circuit Court ‘B’ after being found guilty of using his car to cause the death of two persons and injured another at Addo-Nkwanta near Nankese in the Suhum Municipality of the Eastern Region.
Even before he was convicted, the residents of Amanhyia stormed his shrine, and chased him out of the community.
The residents claimed that he was using his shrine, which was close to the community school, to do bad things.
Rasta, a fair slim guy, after his conviction, relocated to Hwanabenya, a village about 15 minutes’ walk away from Amanase near Suhum, on the Accra to Kumasi Highway.
He has been operating there for about four years and built 10 single room apartments and a one two-bedroom self-contained structure, changing his name to “Wazinga’’. He has also named the shrine as “So me hwe’’ to wit “Try me and see!”
Rambo Arrest
His Togolese wife normally advertises their activities on some of the local television stations, inviting residents and others to the shrine.
The armed police officers, numbering about eight, on Wednesday afternoon, reportedly stormed the shrine where they picked up the nursing fetish priestess, who was in one of the rooms, breastfeeding the baby.
The armed police officers, who came in four cars, ransacked the shrine for exhibits, during which there were claims of gunshots.
The firing of the gunshots attracted some town folks to the shrine.
According to reports, the residents initially did not understand what was happening and wanted to ‘fight’ the gun-wielding policemen, who were said to be in mufti, but the police overpowered them and whisked away the fetish priestess, leaving the two-week baby girl in the care of her sister.
They reportedly assaulted a hairdresser who came to the house on their arrival to plait the hair of the fetish priestess. The hairdresser, who arrived at the scene on an Okada, was roughened up by the police officers when she posed questions about what was amiss.
She was rushed to the Suhum Government Hospital for treatment.
The Shrine
When DAILY GUIDE visited Amanase yesterday, the ten single room apartments, which also serve as the shrine, were seen in an isolated area on an untarred road.
The inscription “Every Problem That’s On You Will End – Good Heart’’ alongside a heart symbol is prominent on the façade of the pink building.
The unfenced structure with an open compound also bore the images of spiritualists.
Another two-bedroom apartment with similar images of bizarre figures bore the inscription “Be Bold – Try and See!”
All the rooms had broken doors and signs of animal rearing at the place.
Two other burglary-proof rooms stood apart from the others and these were where the gods were said to be kept.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that the fetish priest and his wife lived with only four young men, believed to be assisting them in their activities. They reportedly fled before the police stormed the house.
A neighbour told DAILY GUIDE that there was a day some men came to the house to fight with the fetish priest for allegedly defrauding them.
Suspect’s Errand Boy
A young man, who gave his name as Charles, an Okada rider, and said he is an errand boy for the fetish priest, told DAILY GUIDE that he was also not spared by the armed officers, who hit his back.
“I was from Amanase and came to meet the police officers ransacking the house, and immediately they saw me they descended on me without any provocation.”
He said he later went inside the room and picked the baby up, having had to call the elder sister of the priestess to come and send her (baby) to Somanya.
He denied that they used human blood for sacrifice, adding that the place is a herbal centre where they cook herbs for patients who visit them occasionally.
Gruesome Murder
The gruesome killing of Ishmael Mensah Abdallah by two boys in Kasoa in the Central Region during the Easter holidays is said to have been encouraged by television commercials by the fetish priest, a confession one of the suspects has made already.
According to police preliminary investigation, the two suspects, namely Felix Nyarko, aka Yaw Anane, and Nicholas Kwame Kini, aged 16 and 17, were enthralled by television commercials about spiritualists who can make people instant billionaires.
The two then contacted a spiritualist believed to be the fetish priest and his wife, who reportedly demanded the blood of a human being as part of the rituals that would make them instant billionaires.
Kasoa Horror
The two teenagers allegedly murdered the eleven-year-old boy during the Easter holidays for ‘money ritual’, sparking outrage.
They appeared in a Kasoa District Court on Tuesday, charged with conspiracy to commit murder and murder.
Per the charge sheet, Felix Nyarko and Nicholas Kwame Kini conspired and killed Ishmael Mensah Abdallah at Coca Cola, near Lamptey Mills in Kasoa, in the Central Region.
Intriguing details have emerged about how the two teenage murderers initially wanted to kidnap the boy, collect ransom of GH¢5,000 and then go ahead to kill him to enable them to get to the so-called spiritualist to become billionaires.
How They Killed
When Ishmael Mensah Abdallah showed up, Nicholas Kini, the second accused, used the club to hit his neck from the back.
Felix Nyarko, the first accused, followed up with a killer hit using the cement block on the head of the boy, killing him instantly.
The first accused person’s sister was said to have heard something unusual and decided to walk towards the source of the unusual noise.
She was turned away by her brother who did not want her to see what was happening.
After The Killing
The accused persons after the act buried the deceased waiting for nightfall so they could convey the body to the spiritualist in the Volta Region.
Unfortunately, the first accused person’s sister who was turned away reported to her father, Mr. Nyarko, that something unusual took place in the uncompleted building.
Mr. Nyarko, who is a step father to the first accused person, proceeded to the uncompleted building and discovered that the location had been interfered with.
He removed the surface sand and discovered the deceased covered with sand.
He confronted his stepson, who confessed instantly and mentioned the second accused as an accomplice.
Mr. Nyarko reported the case to the police, who arrested the two teenagers.
Burial Of Victim
Ishmael Mensah Abdallah was yesterday buried according to Islamic tradition.
FROM Daniel Bampoe, Amanase