Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi
THE police at Juaso in the Ashanti Region have arrested a 38-year-old farmer suspected to have murdered his three-month-old baby girl in the bush at Bompata in the Ashanti Region.
The suspect, Abudu Razak, was alleged to have lured his wife, who is nursing the three-month-old baby girl, to their farm to harvest cassava, but pounced on her immediately they finished the harvesting, slashing every part of her body with a machete and in the process, hit the baby girl twice in the head with the weapon, resulting in her death.
Razak was alleged to have confessed to the police that he ignored the pleas of his wife to stop slashing her because he was obeying an inner voice that was ordering him to kill her.
The woman, Abena Mary, who was carrying the baby girl at her back, had several machete wounds on her neck and hands and fell unconscious covered with blood, and thinking that she was dead, Razak left her in the farm and fled to Duampompo, near Ejisu, where he sought refuge.
A day after the incident, two other children of the victim, who are six and nine years respectively, alerted the police that their mother was missing, and led the police to their farm where they found Abena Mary lying in a pool of blood unconscious, with the baby girl lying beside her dead from the machete wounds sustained from her father’s attack.
Mary was rushed to the Juaso Government Hospital, and was referred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), where she is responding to treatment
The police mounted a search for the suspect and succeeded in arresting him from his hideout at Duampompo.
He is currently in police custody assisting in investigations.
Briefing the Daily Graphic on the incident, the Juaso District Police Commander, Superintendent Francis Aggrippa Oppong, said around 11.30 a.m. on January 3, 2008, the suspect lured Abena Mary, who was nursing a three-month-old baby girl, together with their two children, to their farm to harvest cassava.
He said as soon as they reached the farm, the suspect told the children to fetch fire wood at a distance from their farm while he and his wife concentrated on the cassava harvesting.
He said when they finished harvesting the cassava, Razak helped his wife to carry the basket full of cassava on her head but as soon as she carried the load, Razak pounced on her, slashing her with the machete in rapid succession.
He said the woman started screaming and pleading with Razak to leave her alone but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
Mr Oppong said in the process, the machete hit the baby girl twice in the head, causing her to fall down while bleeding profusely.
He said the machete also slashed the head, neck and hands of the victim, causing her to fall down unconscious and thinking that she was dead, Razak left her and the baby in a pool of blood and went and told the two children who were busily fetching the firewood that their mother had left for home so they should follow her, while he took a different route and went into hiding.
Superintendent Oppong said at home the children did not meet their mother and, therefore, waited patiently for her to return from the farm but when she failed to do so throughout the day and night, they alerted the Assembly Member in the community early the following morning, who also reported the case to the police.
He said the Chief of Bompata was also alerted, so he caused a gong to be beaten and a search party formed to look for the woman and her baby.
He said the search party found the victim and her baby lying in a pool of blood in their farm with the baby dead from the machete wounds while the woman was unconscious.
Supt Oppong said the police also mounted a search for the suspect and succeeded in arresting him from his hideout at Duampompo after which he confessed that he butchered his wife because he was obeying an inner voice which ordered him to do so.
He said investigations were ongoing and the suspect would be brought to trial as soon as investigations were completed.
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