The police have exhumed the body of a 38-year-old woman who was secretly buried in the compound of a house she lived in with her 69-year-old boyfriend at Amanfrom, near Kasoa.
The victim, identified only as Akosua Gifty, is believed to have been buried by her boyfriend, Apreku Bamfo Akoto, whom she had been living with for the past six months.
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mrs Effia Tenge, said the police received information on March 14, this year that a man had buried his girlfriend in the compound of a house, of which he was the caretaker.
A police team that visited the site arrested Akoto, who identified himself as the caretaker of the house and a ‘bookman’ at the Obuasi Lorry station near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange, in the Greater Accra Region.
Allegedly, Akoto told the police investigators that he buried his girlfriend under the cover of darkness at dawn on March 13, this year at the back of the building and behind the window of the room he had shared with her.
He took the police officers to the scene and allegedly showed them the exact spot where he dug and buried his Akosua Gifty.
Why I buried her
DSP Mrs Tenge said during interrogation at the Amanfrom Police Station, Akoto told the police investigators that his girlfriend had been sick for about three months.
On March 13, he said when he returned from work at about 10 p.m., he found her in bed but she was not responding to her name.
According to the police, Akoto told them that he left the house and went out to drink but when he returned at dawn he realised the woman was dead.
The 69-year-old man said he only knew his girlfriend hailed from Obuasi but did not know her family and he had not performed any customary rites so he decided to bury the body in order not to incur the wrath of her family members.
Exhumation
After preliminary investigations, the police secured a permit from the court to exhume the body.
Last Wednesday, DSP Mrs Tenge said a team made up of a pathologist from the Police Hospital, Environmental Health Protection personnel, forensic experts from the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service and police investigators from the Amanfrom District Police Command exhumed the remains of the victim, in the presence of Akoto.
The body, which was decomposed, was put in a body bag after which the Environmental Health Protection personnel disinfested the area.
Residents
Bewildered residents, who were not allowed near the exhumation site, stood at a distance and watched the operations, while some murmured among themselves.
Some neighbours of the suspect and the victim claimed they knew the woman had not been well for some months.
Following the exhumation, the house where Akoto lived alone with his girlfriend has remained deserted.
DSP Mrs Tenge said Akoto had since been charged with inquest and could also be charged with murder if police investigations established that he had a hand in the death of his girlfriend.
Source: Graphic Online
