Son Of Alleged Murderer Gives Eyewitness Account To The Police

The son of Sodzedo Akpaliga, 55, who allegedly killed and buried his wife in his home at Aletame, told the Aflao Police he witnessed the secret burial of her mother. An Aflao Police source told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Monday that the 12-year-old class three pupil told the Police his father chopped off the limbs of Soloame Samey, 59, to make her burial easy. The source said the young boy also alleged that Akpaliga also cut open the gut of the woman, scooped out the intestines, flung them into the bushes before burying it with the trunk and limbs apart. The boy claimed that the his father said by taking out the intestines the body would decompose faster with little stench thereby avoiding detection. The Police source said the boy led a team to where two cutlasses and a hoe used in chopping the woman and digging of the grave were kept. He said the boy said his father sold an aluminium pan the deceased brought along with her on the visit to scrap dealers after her murder. The Police source said the boy said he saw the woman lying down when he returned from school and greeted her but she did not respond whereupon his father told him she was dead. The boy said the burial took place that evening during which on the instructions of his father he acted as the sentry to warn him (Akpaliga) of intruders. The Aflao District Police Commander, breaking the story to the GNA said on February 9, this year, two days after the deceased bid her relatives farewell at Akame, also near Denu to visit Akpaliga at Aletame, Akpaliga came complaining to his in-laws he had not seen the deceased the previous three weeks. He said as the deceased could still not be found, the relatives reported the case to the Police on February 18, and investigations led to the discovery of the shallow grave with flies hovering over it. The Police said Akpaliga confessed to killing his wife following a quarrel over her alleged infidelity. Her body is at the Ketu South District Hospital morgue pending autopsy. Police sources said Akpaliga had been transferred from Aflao to the Volta Regional Police headquarters for further investigations.