The Ahanta West Municipal Police Command has arrested six persons in connection with the burning to death of a 60-year-old Isaac Ansah at Achonwa, in the Ahanta West Municipality of the Western Region.
The sad incident which happened on Thursday, June 27th, 2024 follows a mob action after a fetish Priest from Achonwa reported the late Isaac Ansah to the elders of the town that Ansah had submitted 14 persons from the community for him to kill them.
The late Ansah was already serving over two years from the community for a previous allegation of causing the death of a resident spiritually.
Narrating the incident to Channel One News, Frank Eshun who is the nephew to the late Ansah said the six persons arrested include the Caretaker Chief of the community, Nana Ojandi, the Assemblyman, Godfred Cudjoe, the Fetish Priest, the Chief Fisherman as well as two others.
Explaining further the incident, Eshun said, the mob action which led to his uncle’s untimely death happened hours after an inconclusive meeting involving his uncle and the elders of the town took place, prompting some aggrieved residents to burn him to death.
“The Chief (Caretaker Chief) and the Assemblyman had a grand durbar to meet the community members to decide what they have to do with my uncle. They also called the Fetish Priest to narrate what had happened. It is there that he said my uncle had written some 14 names for him to kill them.
“So when they called my uncle, he told them that the names he sent to the Fetish Priest were rather to soften their heart to allow him to come back to the community as he was already serving banishment from the community for an incident that happened some two years ago.
“It was just for the Priest to change their mind to forget the issue to allow him to come back to the community to do his work but he didn’t tell him to kill anyone. They didn’t listen to him at all and so the youth of the community gathered, immediately captured him, tied him with ropes, stoned him and finally burnt him with used car tyres and petrol,” he said.
He said the family was broken by the sad killing of his uncle and demanded justice.
“It’s painful. When I went there and saw the remains of my uncle, I have not been able to eat anything since, because I saw dogs and birds eating his remains. So I feel so bad. We need the prosecution of those people because if this even happened, it is not for you to use the law anyhow you want. There is law in the country and everyone must abide by the law. So we are pleading with the state to prosecute them“, he called.
The remains of the late 60-year Isaac Ansah have since been sent to the mortuary for autopsy and the family say they are hoping to have the remains to give him peaceful rest.