A heinous act suspected to be ritual murder occurred at Zevor, a farming community near Akim Oda, on June 3 this year, and the body of the victim, a 28-year-old farm labourer, was dumped in the Birim River. Investigations by the Daily Graphic indicate that the deceased, Alex Kwaku Armattoe, a father of three, had his genital organs removed. He was said to have been tied to a log before being dumped in the river and his maternal relatives who claimed he had gone missing later retrieved the body on June 12, 2009 and buried it without informing his father or the police." The deceased's maternal family gave the reason for not informing either his father or the police as the decomposed state of the body beyond recognition and the fact that they could not tell whether it was the body of their missing relative or not. For that reason, four persons - namely, Samuel Adjatey Kontor, Stephen Tetteh, Wisdom Adjaho aka Dotse and Samuel Gadoge - have already been arrested and granted bail by the Oda Police for hindrance of inquest. However, at a family meeting arranged between the deceased's maternal and paternal relations, during which these reporters covertly participated as relatives of the father, the deceased's maternal relatives agreed to take responsibility and compensate the father. They also undertook to cater for the three children of the deceased. The deceased's maternal relatives did not report the matter and when his father did, an initial arrest was made but Tetteh was granted bail on the same day with the explanation that the deceased was said to have gone missing. Again, when it became apparent that the deceased was murdered, his father made another report. At the meeting held at Zevor on August 4, 2009, the deceased's maternal relatives pleaded with the paternal relatives not to involve the police, since that would strain family relations. They expressed gratitude for moves being made to settle the matter amicably and offered GH¢20 as transport and some soft drinks but the father of the deceased and his entourage rejected the gifts and said the money should rather be given to one of the three children of the deceased who was in the village. Zevor is a predominantly Ewe community and about 18 kilometres from Oda with a population of not more than 300 people. Before the meeting commenced, the deceased's paternal relatives ascertained from their hosts the circumstances under which Alex died and why he was hastily buried in the bush, without the knowledge of his father. The family members who attended the meeting from the maternal side included Mr Akrofi Otumfuo who volunteered to be guardian of the children; the head off family, Wofa Daniel; his son, Samuel Kwasi Gadoge; Samuel Adjatey Kantor, Nelson Anum Adjei (both uncles of the deceased), one other elderly man and two women, who did not identify themselves. According to Gadoge, who acted as the linguist, he and about five others went to farm on June 3, this year with the deceased to apply fertiliser on someone's cocoa farm and after the exercise, they parted company. He said the deceased later went on a hunting expedition and after his failure to return; a party went in search of him but to no avail. Gadoge said later they had information that a dead body had been seen floating on the Birim River, based on which they went for the body and buried it. Meanwhile, the deceased's father, Mr Armattoe John-Stephen, a teacher, who lives nearby at Akroso, said his son's uncle, Anum Nelson, called to inform him at about II :30 p.m. on June 3, 2009, that his son had been missing and corroborated what the meeting revealed. He said that the next day, he assigned his wife to the village to find out what had happened and she returned on June 9, 2009 to inform him that she learnt that the deceased had gone to Twifo Praso to visit his wife who lived there. "I went to Zevor myself on June 13, 2009 and met Anum Nelson, who informed me that reports reaching them indicated that my son was at Aduasa, a village near Akim Swedru. I, therefore, went there but could not find him. "I then called an aunt of the deceased at Ayeboafo, a nearby village, to inform her and she told me that she had heard that someone had been murdered, tied to a log and dumped in the Birim River; he added. Mr John-Stephen said after spending three days at Aduasa to no avail and with the news about the murder, he received a call from a nephew at Aduasa that rumours had it that his son had been killed, tied to a tree and dumped in the river thus confirming his sister's earlier report. "When I called Anum Nelson to inform him about what I had heard, he asked me to come over to Zevor because his uncle, Wofa Daniel had demanded that I see him before I take any action on the matter," he said, and added that he proceeded to Zevor on June 22, 2009, to see the family. He said Wofa Daniel pleaded with him not to pursue the case, since doing so would disintegrate the family but he rejected the plea and want ahead to report to the Oda Police that his son had gone missing since June 3, 2009. It was after that complaint that the farm owner, Stephen Tetteh, was arrested but released on bail. Mr John-Stephen said when it became apparent that his son was dead, he went to Zevor on July 8, 2009, where Anum Nelson confirmed that his son had been murdered. He then went to the Oda Police on July II, 2009 to lodge the latest report since Anum Nelson said nobody had reported the latest development about the murder to the police. According to him, Wofa Daniel and others went to him at Akroso to beg him to settle the matter at home so that it was not pursued at the police station, since they were at fault for not informing him about the death of his son. "They came along with one bottle of Schnapps but I told them that this was a murder case which could not be settled at home so they should go themselves to the police station." The Oda Divisional Police Crime Officer, DSP Emmanuel Arzah, told the Daily Graphic that on July 29, 2009, he sent a letter to the Environmental Health and Sanitation Unit of the Birim Central Municipal Assembly to assist with the exhumation of the body for pathological examination. Mr Kwaku Frimpong, the officer in charge of the unit, confirmed to the Daily Graphic that his outfit had received the letter but was facing logistical problems such as protective clothing and chemicals to carry out the job. He said the letter from the police boss indicated that the burial site had been identified and as soon as his outfit got the needed logistics, personnel would be dispatched to exhume the body although the place was not within the jurisdiction of his outfit. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana