Hunchback Killed For Rituals

Police in Akwatia in the Eastern Region have begun a manhunt for the killers of a female hunchback believed to be in her early fifties. The woman was allegedly killed by unknown persons on the morning of last Saturday May 29, between two villages, Otwinkwanta and Adukwedum. The woman�s hunch was removed in a bizarre manner. The incident has thrown the town into shock and fear, as many residents who spoke to Citi FM said the 53-year-old woman might have been killed for ritual purposes. The body of the woman, believed to have been murdered not far from where she was found, has since been deposited at the Saint Dominic Hospital Mortuary in Akwatia. Akwatia District Police Commander, ASP Samuel Odame, said the deceased was yet to be identified. �For now, we cannot confirm that it was for a ritual murder. Our major concern is that as at now, no one has come forward to report of his or her missing relation. So we are appealing to the public to report to the Akwatia Police. The place of the murder seems a bit disorganized, suggesting that there might have been a struggle. But when a post-mortem is done, it will actually confirm whether the person was strangled or not,� he noted. In recent times, there have been several cases of alleged ritual murders in some parts of the country. The most recent and prominent case is the arrest of three men suspected to have murdered a 12-year-old boy, Kwame Amoah, at Atebubu in the Brong Ahafo Region. The prime suspect, Sumaila Yahaya, a 32-year-old man, was seen with the head of the deceased. He was arrested at the residence of Mallam Musa Bamba, a spiritualist in Techiman, in his attempt to use the decapitated head for rituals in order to be rich overnight. That practice is commonly known in local parlance as �Sakawa.�