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A 42-year-old pastor and his uncle have been arrested by the police in connection with the gruesome murder of the 13-year-old junior high school student, Isaac Akwasi Opoku, at Abuakwa, near Kumasi, early Monday morning. The suspects, identified as Pastor James Akwasi Appau and his uncle, whose name was given as Kofi Adjei, were arrested on Monday after an assailant, wearing a mask, had allegedly attacked a family at Abuakwa. The attacker almost severed Young Opoku�s head in his sleep, after which he allegedly inflicted multiple machete wounds on the boy�s mother, Mrs Felicity Opoku, and his sister, Rita Opoku. The incident occurred barely two weeks after the death of Mrs Opoku�s husband, Pastor Johnson Opoku, who was the Head Pastor of the King Jesus Anointing Fire Ministry at Asuoyeboah in Kumasi. Briefing the Daily Graphic on the arrest, the Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr Mohammed Yusif Tanko, said the suspects were yet to be charged. He noted that the two suspects, who were related to the late pastor, were in the house at the time the incident occurred. Additionally, the two had seized some of the assets of the late pastor and denied the widow and her children access to the late pastor�s property. �There were five people sleeping in the hall at the time the incident occurred, but the assailant attacked only the widow and her two children who could inherit the late pastor�s property, hence the arrest of the suspects to help in our investigations,� Mr Tanko said. Meanwhile, Mrs Opoku is now in a stable condition at the Accident and Emergency Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). In an interview at her bedside yesterday, she made a passionate appeal to the police to intensify their investigations to bring the assailant to book. Mrs Opoku said her assailant took advantage of the power outages and sneaked into her bedroom where he attacked her and her two children. �All my prayer is that God will touch the hearts of the police to enable them to find those who attacked me and my children at a time I am yet to bury my husband who died a few days ago,� she told the Daily Graphic amid sobbing. Explaining how the incident occurred, Mrs Opoku said her assailant emerged from the bedroom at a time they were sleeping in the hall and the main door locked. She said due to the darkness, she could not immediately notice the danger they faced until the assailant started attacking them with a machete. �I saw him emerge from the bedroom, but I thought he was one of the children, so I did not take much notice until he started butchering us,� she said. �My daughter was the first to react, after my son had been attacked, but just then, the man, who was in mask and wearing white shirt and black trousers, turned on her and inflicted wounds on her before rushing on me to attack me as well,� she explained further. She said it was after the assailant had sneaked out of the room that she realised that her son had been killed. �Moments after the assailant had sneaked out, I thought Akwasi was still sleeping and so I decided to lift him up, only to realise that his head was hanging down, with blood oozing,� she explained. �We were five sleeping in the hall, but the assailant was able to identify only the three of us and killed my son before turning his attention on me and my daughter,� she said. Story by George Ernest Asare