MURDER TRAP: Swedish Man Murdered In Accra

The Swedish government has requested that Ghana expedite investigations into the mysterious murder of a 62-year-old Swedish national at his plush residence at Roman Ridge, a suburb of Accra, in the wee hours of Sunday, November 30, 2003.

They are also demanding swift justice from the Ghanaian authorities, Gye Nyame Concord has gathered.

The Swede, Lass Lassman, was stabbed 15 times on his left chest to death and was reportedly found soaked in his own blood on his bed by his 22-year-old pretty Kenyan wife, Ms. Agnes Leelempo, the next day.

The police have however charged the wife and her Ghanaian boyfriend, Kobby, with murder and conspiracy to murder, whilst they investigate other clues on the death of Lassman, including the possible role of a Swedish business partner of the deceased in the gruesome killing.

Another clue, this paper learnt, has left the police examining the possibility of suicide in the death of Lassman.

Kobby and Ms Leelempo appeared before the Osu District court last Thursday and were remanded to reappear next week Thursday, December, 18.

The two sweethearts have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

At her maiden appearance, Ms Leleempo shocked the court with her no-holds barred admission that Kobby was a boyfriend with whom she had slept on three occasions.

According to her, her husband was impotent and unable to have sex with her, so she was compelled to find a boyfriend to sexually satisfy her.

Ms Leelempo also told the Police Homicide Unit when initially arrested that she was partying at the popular Jokers night club at La, Accra, on the night of the husband’s murder.

Ms Leelempo, who looked unruffled by the death of her husband, told the police that she knew nothing about it.

Sh On her return to her matrimonial home the following day, she discovered the husband had been stabbed to death, she stated.

Concord has gathered that she informed the police of the murder and quickly ordered that the late husband be cremated. The police however halted the cremation, saying they first had to complete investigations into the matter.

Presently, the body of Lassman who left all his properties and estates to the wife in his Will has been deposited at the Police Mortuary.

Meantime, the police are also probing the role of the Project Officer of ABB Contractors - himself a Swedish and a partner of Lassman - who packed bag and luggage and left the country a day after the murder of Lassman.

ABB Contractors is a major Swedish contracting firm with major contracts with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). Lassman arrived in Accra with the wife to pick up an appointment with ABB as an engineer barely six months ago.

A police source confided in this writer that in the course of their preliminary investigation, they found a suicide note allegedly written and signed five days before his death by Lassman in which he claimed he was fed up with life.

The Police Homicide Unit at the Police Headquarters, led by some crack investigators, are at their best applying arsenals in their investigative armouries to unravel the motive behind the murder by piecing up the nitty-gritty of all the circumstantial evidence, material facts and witnesses available to them to build hard evidence to bring the perpetrators of the murder to justice or establish whether the deceased committed suicide.

Concord learnt that Ms Leelempo met her boyfriend when she and the husband picked up temporary residence at the Novotel Hotel in Accra, where Kobby works as a long tennis instructor. They continued seeing each other long after she and the husband moved into their accommodation at Roman Ridge.

Counsel for Ms Leelempo, who is also the representative of the Swedish government in Ghana, Mr Musa Ahmed of the Ayawaso Chambers, has confirmed the murder case against his client.

He however expressed satisfaction with how the police were professionally handling the case in their attempt to bring the perpetrators of the act to book.

He told this reporter that the Swedish government takes the murder of their citizen in Ghana very seriously and were therefore expecting the judicial system to expedite action on the case and to let justice and the rule of law prevail.

He told the Concord that Lassman’s family wants the wishes of his wife carried out and that Ms Leelempo and her boyfriend are innocent until proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt by a court of competent jurisdiction. gnconcord@yahoo.com or sani_ siddiq hotmail.com

PIC: Ms. Leelempo and boyfriend Kobby.