Father beheads son for juju

Residents of Sea, near Assin Gangan in the Assin Foso District of the Central Region last Saturday received the shock of their lives when a 24-year-old man, Mensah Adukatse, reportedly decapitated his three-year-old son, Kojo Adukatse, in a nearby bush under strange circumstances.

A source at the village told Daily Guide that they suspected Mensah killed Kojo for rituals as a herbalist in the village raised the alarm when the suspect told him that he had cut off the head of the boy.

Speaking to Daily Guide yesterday, the Assin Foso District Police Commander, Emmanuel Basintale said on Saturday some people from the village brought Mensah to his office, claiming that he had beheaded his son and wanted to run away.

Upon a search of the area, the body was found in the bush with the head cut off.

ASP Basintale stated that the lifeless body of Kojo had since been deposited at the St Francis Hospital at Assin Foso for autopsy.

Police investigations showed that the suspect impregnated one Adjoa Cynthia some years ago and left the village since he was not ready to take care of the child.

Mensah was not seen in the area for a very long time until about three days ago when he resurfaced.

According to Mr. Basintale, immediately the suspect got into town, he went to Cynthia’s house to plead for forgiveness and later played with the boy.

Mensah returned on Friday and Saturday and asked the family to let him take his son for a walk but never brought the boy back. Upon interrogation, the suspect declined to give any tangible explanation for the whereabouts of the missing boy which made the family suspect foul play and reported the matter to the police.

Mensah will be arraigned before court on Monday.

Incidents of fathers killing their biological children are gaining ground in recent times, with two cases being reported in the Ashanti Region and the Volta region.

In the Volta region incident, an I8-year-old father on Monday, November 22, allegedly strangled his one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Ruth Adome to death at Lowcost, a suburb of Dzodze in the middle of the night as she lay by her 19-year-old mother.

The teenage father, Dennis Dzagba, a student of the Keta Business College (KETABUSCO), is said to have killed the baby because he claimed his mates at school had been teasing him that he was too young to have a child.

In the Ashanti region, a 25-year-old teacher, Raymond Messisa, allegedly murdered his 2-year-old son, Kelvin Messisa, by breaking his neck, both hands and legs before dumping the lifeless body into a toilet.

Raymond was remanded by a circuit court at Nkawie into prison custody, after allegedly killing the innocent boy at Kunsu near Mankraso in the Ahafo Ano South District of the Ashanti region.

Raymond's father, Emmanuel Amaglar, was apprehended by the police for conspiracy.