Tabloid News of Monday, 17 October 2011

Source: Daily Guide/Ghana

Obuasi: Crocodile storms house

A family of six at Pomposo, a suburb of Obuasi in the Ashanti region, received the shock of their lives when they found an unwelcome guest; a 7-foot crocodile, in their home on Friday night.

Martin Yeboah, a staff of AngloGold Ashanti in Obuasi, together with his wife and four children, screamed for help and made constant phone calls for rescue, until a friend Kwaku Adu, and the Assembly member for the area, Kwabena Boafo, showed up.

Upon receiving the news, Kwaku Adu, the son of a hunter, took the double-barrel gun of his father, and stormed the home of the distressed family.

On reaching the invaded house, the gentleman cocked and fired the gun five times on the alligator, sending the hissing reptile to its death before the imprisoned family could step out.

The reptile, an endangered African species, was spotted relaxing on the veranda of the couple’s house around 9:30.p.m after Mr. Yeboah returned from work.

According to him, he initially mistook the crocodile for a rag and later a python, when he threw his torchlight on the animal.

He then jumped over the crocodile and dashed into his room to alert his sleeping wife and children, who had no idea about the unwelcome visitor in the house.

Mr. Yeboah said he made several calls to friends and loved ones to rescue him and his family, to which Kwaku Adu responded.

Some residents said the crocodile might have been forced from its ever-dwindling habitat wetland where residential buildings were springing up, following a downpour on Friday night.

The people believed the crocodile had come from a river called Nkwankyima, close to the house of the couple.

The animal has since been buried as residents wait to celebrate one week of its death because of the superstition that the reptile could be a bad omen for the community.