Horror! � Man�s Face Removed, But Suspects Walk Free

The family of an eighty-five-year-old man, Opanin Kwaku Abrokwa who was killed in a most depraved way by removing the flesh on his face and dumped to rot by his assailants is blaming the police for allowing the suspects to walk free. The assailants are believed to be ritualists who murdered the man and took away vital parts of him to perform rituals. The entire family and the community of Akyem Apinaman are blaming the Akwatia police for refusing to apprehend the four suspects in the murder of Opanin Abrokwa on Saturday July 27, 2013 at Akyem Apinaman. According to Kwadwo Anim, the son of the deceased who spoke to the DAILY HERITAGE, on Saturday July 27, 2013, his father visited his farm but did not return at his usual time. He said at around 5:30pm they went to the farm to look for him and though they could not find him, they saw harvested palm nuts and a cocoa sack half filled with the palm nuts. Mr. Anim said on Sunday July 28 at around 5:30am, another search party was deployed to his father�s farm, but could not find the old man. It was at this point that the matter was reported to the Apinaman Police and the chief of the town. The chief of Akyem Apinaman, also ordered the community search party to go and search for the man, and after several hours of thorough search they were not able to find the deceased. He said, in the morning of August 5, 2013, one of their suspects Kwasi Darkwa, the nephew of the deceased came with his friend, Kofi Moosi to pour libation at the entrance of the their father� house saying that the old man was still alive, because the information he got after consulting a fetish priest indicated that their father was not dead and after the libation he will emerge. On August 5, 2013 there was a phone call from Akyem Apinaman Police station that two boys went on hunting expedition and had found a dead body near a galamsey site so they should come for identification of the body. He said together with the Police they went to the crime scene and found their father dead and dumped in a water filled pit, with the skin of the face removed and the tongue cut off. The body was transferred to the Police Hospital in Accra for autopsy and the body was released to the family for burial with the promise from the Police to continue with the investigations. He said that some days later the commander of Akwatia Police, DSP Omane invited one of the children of the deceased to a meeting and asked who they suspected killed their father. They mentioned Kwasi Moosi. On August 15, Kwasi Moosi was arrested by the Akwatia Police and has since not been prosecuted in connection with the murder. The other suspects, according to the family are going about their activities and harassing them. An eye witness account According to one Baba Ibrahim, at around 9pm on Saturday July 27, he was returning from a friend�s funeral when he saw four people standing by a dead body they removed from a taxi booth. He said, when he got near, he heard one Sakora, a resident of Akyem Apinaman, shouting to Afoakwa to hurry up because it was getting late. He said, since he knew Afoakwa, he enquired about what they were doing and he told him they had come to perform some rituals and if he wouldn�t mind, he (Ibrahim) could join them for money, which he refused. He said when he decided to leave, Afoakwa called and warned him to be tight-lipped over what had transpired between him and the four people, else he will lose his life.