Residents of Wassa Nkyirifi, a farming community in the Western Region, woke up on Friday morning to the horror of the suspected murder of a seven-year-old girl by her uncle for money ritual purposes.
After allegedly killing and burying the body in a nearby bush, the suspect, identified only as Augustine, a 37-year-old farmer, reported to the police that his niece had gone missing.
The 7-year-old victim has been identified as Sandy Manu.
The suspect then went further and made public announcements on the radio, asking for help locating his niece.
The police in the Wassa Amenfi East Municipal Area, however, suspected foul play because of Augustine’s responses to the questions and because he was desperately concerned about the missing young girl.
Augustine’s body language, his responses, and his eventual exhibition that he was terrified, according to a police source, prompted an intense interrogation by the police, during which he burst into tears.
According to the police source, he then confessed that he had killed the niece for money so he could evade poverty.
He is said to have told the police that he complained about poverty to one elderly man in the Wassa Nkyirifi community, and the elderly man told him to use one of his many nieces for money rituals.
Upon meditation, he went to see a spiritualist the next day to help him go through the process of money rituals.
The suspect said the spiritualist then told him to bring a human head—that is, the head of one of his nieces.
From there, he went in for Sandy and killed her.
After killing and beheading her, he buried the headless body and concealed the head in the process.
He then led the police to the nearby bush where the headless body was buried, and the body was exhumed.
The head was also retrieved from another location.
The body has since been deposited at the morgue, and the suspect is currently in police custody.
A video from the scene where the body was exhumed has been shared on social media by some of the community members.
