DON’T BURY DEAD WIFE - Court Orders Husband

An Accra High Court last Wednesday restrained Kofi Adu, a member of the Edusei faction of Saviour Church, and five others from burying the corpse of the late Mrs. Lydia Adusei Poku (nee Lydia Asirifi). Justice (Mrs.) Agnes Dordzie also ordered a coroner's investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the deceased. The court did not award any cost.

The ruling follows a petition by the mother and brother of the deceased, Akosua Baahema and Kwabena Agyei, for an order of interim injunction to restrain the defendants from burying the deceased who is the sister of the leader of the Asirifi faction of the church before due investigations were carried out.

The five others are: Peter Asante, Isaac Boadi, Joseph Appiah, Samuel Atta Kyia and Peter Ofosu Akyia.

The Edusei and Asirifi factions are embroiled in a long running litigation over who takes control of the Saviour Church, funded by Elias Asirifi Asante's father the late Isaac Kwadwo Asirifi. A family source of the deceased told The Weekend Heritage that the late Mrs. Adusei Doku was married to Kofi Adu and bore him six children.

The source explained that following the death of Lydia's father, the late Isaac Kwadwo Asirifi, members of Lydia's family were expelled from Osiem, the headquarters of the Church.

The source said that the families of the deceased were not allowed to see their sister even though they heard reports of maltreatment of the deceased before her untimely death.

An Accra Circuit Court, presided over by Justice Emmanuel Ankamh, had earlier on February 17, 2003, ordered the defendants to return the body of Lydia Asirifi to the Korle-Bu mortuary.

Following the circuit court's order, the Korle-Bu Police arrested three of the persons, Joseph Appah and Samuel Atta Kyia, both of Tabora, a suburb of Accra, and Peter Asante of Michel Camp Road, Tema.

They were to help trace the corpse, which was removed on Tuesday February 11, 2003, from the Korle Bu Mortuary.

Investigations at the Administrative Section of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital indicated that Lydia died on February 4, 2003 and was deposited at the morgue on the same day.

Later, some members of the Saviour Church of Ghana reportedly tendered instructions from Abraham Kwaku Edusei, current leader of the church, requesting the release of the corpse to one Peter Asante who signed for it.

A source at the Administrative Department of the Mortuary said, "with the similarity in names and (the members) bearing all necessary documents, we released the corpse to them, which they placed in a Hundai Bus with registration Number GR 802U driven by one Isaac Boadi; They told us they were taking the dead body to Osiem for buria”, the source indicated.