[ 2012-07-02 ]

Mason kills step Children
A 36-year-old mason, Samuel Kwadwo Dankwah, has
allegedly killed two of his step-children,
following a misunderstanding between him and his
wife over housekeeping money.

The suspect allegedly dumped the bodies of Evans
Kwame Abban, seven, and Dorothy Maame Ama Abban,
four, in the bush and absconded with his own
child, Michael Owusu, two.

Although the incident occurred on June 22, 2012,
it was not until June 26 and June 29, 2012 that
the bodies of Evans and Dorothy were retrieved
from the bush at New Bortianor.

Briefing the Daily Graphic on the incident, the
Accra Regional Police Public Affairs Officer,
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Freeman
Tettey, said the mother of the deceased children,
Obaa Yaa, 30, who was co-habitating with Dankwah,
allegedly left the children to visit her father
after a misunderstanding over housekeeping money
on June 20, 2012.

Giving a background to the misunderstanding, Obaa
Yaa told the Daily Graphic that Dankwah gave her
GH¢7 as housekeeping money for the day.

She said she told him it was inadequate and
demanded more, but Dankwah ignored her and left
for work.

She said upon his return that evening, Dankwah
demanded dinner but she told him she could not
prepare dinner because she and the children spent
GH¢4 on breakfast and lunch and, therefore, what
was left was inadequate to prepare dinner.

According to her, the next morning, she demanded
housekeeping money when Dankwah was leaving for
work but he assaulted her and asked her to use the
remaining GH¢3 to buy food items to prepare meals
for the day.

She said Dankwah then entered the room, brought
out a machete and threatened to butcher her.

She then ran out of the house and only returned
after Dankwah had left for work. 1
According to Obaa Yaa, her father, Mr Kweku Abeku,
coincidentally called her on her cell phone and
demanded to see her urgently at Kaneshie for a
discussion.

She said when she met him, the father complained
about Dankwah's failure to perform the marriage
rites, after staying with her for four years.

She claimed she then told her father about the
misunderstanding over housekeeping money and the
resultant fisticuffs between her and her partner.


Apparently worried about the development, the
father asked her to follow him to Bawjiase, where
he lived, and promised to invite Dankwah over for
the issue to be discussed.

According to her, after staying for some few days,
she decided to go back to check on the children,
only to be told that their bodies had been sent to
the mortuary.

Throwing more light on the incident, DSP Tettey
said Obaa Yaa brought her three children,
identified as Akwasi Eric, nine, Evans and
Dorothy, all from a previous relationship, to live
with Dankwah.

Obaa Yaa and Dankwah later had a fourth child,
Michael Owusu.

According to him, Obaa Yaa allegedly left the
house with the reason that her father had invited
her to come over for an urgent discussion.

Mr Tettey said about 4 a.m. on June 22, 2012, when
Eric woke up to attend the call of nature, he
discovered that his sister, Dorothy, was not in
bed and suspected that she might have gone to
sleep with their step father (Dankwah).

He said when he (Eric) woke up to sweep the
compound about 6:30 a.m., he detected that Evans
too was not on the bed, although Michael was still
lying in bed.

Mr Tettey said when Eric asked his stepfather
about the whereabouts of Evans and Dorothy, the
father claimed that the two children had gone to
visit their grandmother who lived at another
suburb of New Bortianor.

He said Eric, however, decided to visit the
grandmother after sweeping to confirm if his
siblings were there.

Unfortunately, he said, the grandmother denied
that the children had been there.

Based upon that, Eric and the grandmother decided
to go and question Dankwah about the whereabouts
of the two children.

Mr Tettey said when Eric and the grandmother got
to the house, Dankwah and Michael were nowhere to
be found.

According to him, a farmer saw Evan's body
strangulated with a shirt in the bush on June 26
and immediately raised an alarm.

He said the police were duly notified and the body
was taken to the Police Hospital mortuary.

Mr Tettey said Dorothy's decomposed body was also
discovered in the bush on June 29, 2012 and was
also taken to the morgue.

Source - Daily Graphic

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