PLUMBER ARRESTED FOR MURDER (BACK PAGE)

A 30-year-old plumber has been arrested by the police in Kumasi for allegedly murdering his four-year-old son.
The suspect, Hayford Owusu Donkor, was alleged to have subjected the deceased to severe beatings on May 26, 2008, causing him to sustain severe head injuries and fracture of his two right ribs.
Nigel Owusu Donkor, the deceased son, died on May 28, 2008, two days after his ordeal.
Briefing the Daily Graphic about the incident, the Ashanti Regional Police Public Affairs Officer, Inspector Yusif Mohammed Tanko, said Nigel had been staying with his biological mother since birth, but on December 25, last year, the suspect took control of his son’s upkeep without the knowledge and consent of his mother and brought him to his matrimonial home.
According to Inspector Tanko, the suspect, who started having problems with his wife due to the presence of Nigel in their matrimonial home, always vented his spleen on the boy by subjecting him to severe beatings.
He said on May 26, 2008, the suspect started beating Nigel again, accusing him of soiling himself and in the process, the boy sustained severe head injuries and two of his ribs also got fractured.
Inspector Tanko said the suspect did not take Nigel to hospital for medical care, causing him to become unconscious two days later, after which he died.
Inspector Tanko said it was after the deceased had died that the suspect rushed to the police station to concoct a story that his son had died from injuries he sustained when playing in school, but he could neither lead the police to where the deceased attended school nor could he mention the name of his class teacher.
The police said the suspect finally confessed to the police that his son neither attended school nor died when playing in school.
He further confessed that he had been regularly beating his son who had been soiling himself frequently, thereby creating inconvenience at his matrimonial home.
The suspect, who has been remanded in prison custody pending further investigations, is facing provisional charge of murder.
The body has been deposited at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital mortuary, pending further investigations.