90-year-old granny’s lynching disheartening – IGP

The Inspector-General of Police, James Oppong-Boanuh, has described as disconcerting, the lynching of 90-year-old Akua Denteh at Kafaba in the East Gonja municipality of the Savannah Region.

The grandmother was accused of witchcraft by a witchdoctor and subsequently tortured and lynched in the full glare of the public.

So far, the sorcerer and six others have been arrested in connection with the case.

During a visit to the Savannah Region, Mr Oppong-Boanuh damned the incident.

“The incident was something that was worrying”, he said, adding: “If you look at the age of the woman and what was done to her by her own relatives, is a bit disheartening”.

“Ghanaians in this age and times should not be doing that”, he noted.

“Why is it that it is always the ladies that are being accused of witchcraft?” he wondered.

“We should always ensure that we protect our mothers and sisters”, he urged.

The 40-year-old witchdoctor was arraigned Wednesday, 5 August 2020.

The Bole Magistrates Court is hearing the matter.

Sherina Mohammed was arrested at her hideout at Yeji on Monday, 3 August 2020 in the night.

She led a gang of locals in the village to whip and bludgeon Akua Denteh to death.

A few days earlier, one of the women seen whipping the old woman in the viral video that captured the torture, was also arrested.

Latifah Bumaye, 32, who described the deceased as her grandmother, was arrested by the Salaga police, according to regional correspondent Zion Rauf.

Already, five suspects have been in the custody of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

Rauf Zion reported that the five suspects are known members of a youth group of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Kafaba in the East Gonja Municipality.

The arrests were made by a special team of personnel from Accra and handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Savanna Regional Police Command at Damongo.

The statements of the five suspects were taken following their interrogation.

They were arraigned and remanded.

Meanwhile, the chief of Kafaba, Kafabawura Yahaya Zakariah, has been granted bail.

On Monday, 27 July 2020, President Nana Akufo-Addo, while touring the region, said the lynching has “disfigured the face of our nation.”

Mr Akufo-Addo said he hopes “the quick response of the police will lead to the rapid administration of justice in this unfortunate matter”.

In a statement, the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council added its “voice to those of other well-meaning Ghanaians in calling for serious investigations and arrest of all those involved in this heinous crime, which can best be described as very cruel and barbaric.”

The Council emphasised: “We must, at all cost, seek justice for this 90-year-old woman and all those who have suffered such atrocities in the past.”

According to the Council, “it is heart-breaking to note that in this modern-day and age, our society seems to be drifting into an era of lawlessness where some people can take the law into their own hands”.

“There is an urgent need to inject some discipline and sanity into our everyday behaviour as a society.

“We must intensify our education of the public on what their rights as citizens are and what they can do or not do so as to make the society a safe and secure place to live in”, it added.

The Council further indicated: “There is also the need to consider whether it is not time to close down “witch” camps which are predominantly found in the Northern Regions and find ways and means of reintegrating inmates of such camps, who are mostly elderly women and sometimes their children and grandchildren, into the society.

The GPCC added that the lessons of such gruesome murders must be used “to right the wrongs in our society. The elderly, weak and vulnerable must be targeted for the care and protection of our society.”