Businessman Arrested For Murder

A 31-year-old businessman who is the General Manager of Agip GOIL filling station at Koforidua has been arrested by the Koforidua Police as a suspect in the murder of a spiritualist at Nkurakan, near Koforidua in the Eastern region.

Kwadwo Osei, the businessman, allegedly engaged the spiritualist, David Otibu, who was in his mid thirties, to help him get more money so that he could pay his debtors and expand his business. The spiritualist allegedly swindled the businessman.

The situation resulted in bad blood between the two.

Kwadwo Osei is said to have engaged about 10 well-built men, some of whom were allegedly dressed in military and police uniforms, and went to the house of Otibu on the evening of October 10 this year to pick the spiritualist up.

After he was picked up, his whereabouts could not be traced by his family members until his dead body was found in a bush at Kitase, near Aburi in the Akwapim South municipality.

Kwadwo Osei, after facing some difficulties in his business, approached the well-known spiritualist to help him out of his financial predicaments so that he would be able to pay back loans contracted from his bankers.

Osei is said to have given the spiritualist a total amount of GH¢50,000 which he (spiritualist) said he would use as seed money to ‘multiply’ the businessman’s fortunes.

After sometime, the spiritualist allegedly demanded a brand new Honda saloon car which he said he would burn into ashes, from which the final ‘juju’ could be performed for the money to start ‘flowing’.

Osei is said to have quickly sent the brand new Honda car valued at GH¢20,000 to the jujuman for the last rituals but after burning and performing the last ritual, the money did not ‘come’ as expected.

The businessman then realised that he had been defrauded so he went to the family members of the spiritualist to inform them about the supposed ‘fraud’ perpetrated on him by David Otibu.

According the Koforidua Municipal Police Commander, David Tefukor, the suspect, after meeting with the deceased’s family, went to the house of the spiritualist on the same day and kidnapped him.

The spiritualist was later found dead in a bush at Kitase, near Aburi and a report was made to the police.

The suspect admitted to picking up the suspect from his house with the help of some men.

According to him, Otibu was 'arrested' and was being sent to the police headquarters in Accra where a complaint on the alleged fraud had been made. But on reaching Aburi, he jumped out of the car being used to convey him and ran away.

After the body of Otibu was found at Kitase, the businessman was arrested as the prime suspect and was arraigned in Koforidua yesterday on the charge of murder.

He was remanded into prison custody to re-appear on October 28.

The police said the docket would be sent to the Attorney-General’s Department for advice, after an autopsy had been performed.

The body has since been deposited at the police hospital morgue in Accra awaiting autopsy.