Deranged accountant kills daughters

It has now emerged that the 45-year-old woman, Naana Bray, who allegedly poisoned her own daugh­ters to death at Essikado in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, is a university graduate and Chartered Accountant by profession.

The family members confirmed to Daily Guide that Naana Bray became mentally deranged after giving birth to her second daughter, Maame Affulba, aged 6 – one of the deceased daughters.

According to the family members, the suspect was working with the National

Commission on Culture (now Centre for National Culture) of the Western Regional Coordinating Council after her university education but had to quit because of the mental ill­ness.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE at Essikado yester­day, elder brother of the suspect, Emmanuel Andoh, asserted that her sister was diagnosed with Schizophrenic disorder after she had given birth, according to the medical report from the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital in the Central Region.

He posited that after realizing that Naana Bray had become mentally deranged, the family mem­bers decided to pool their resources together to take care of her so that she could recover from the ill­ness.

Mr. Andoh indicated that the woman was initial­ly taken to the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital in Cape Coast where she was diagnosed with the disease, but was later transferred to the Essikado Hospital upon the request of the family members.

He mentioned that the siblings of the woman were all contributing money to purchase drugs and cater for other medical bills of their sister, particularly because of the children, and that it was her elder sister who was guiding her (Naana) to take her drugs.

He pointed out that the woman was responding to treatment at the Essikado hospital and was even billed to go for a review on December 9, 2015.

According to Mr Andoh, nothing showed that Naana Bray would one day kill her two daughters because of the way she took care of them.

“Naana will make sure that the two kids go to school, go to the library, go to church, attend the morn­ing mass and exercise every morning before bathing them, dressed them up and send them to school,” he added.

He explained that because of Naana Bray’s condition, the husband, who is believed to be a teacher in one of the senior high schools in Sekondi, had to leave the matrimo­nial home and found him­self a different abode.

The elder brother indi­cated that at a point, the husband wanted to take the children from the wife and so sent the case to court, but the court did not permit him to do so because they were too young and needed to be with their mother.

Naana Bray, believed to be mentally unstable, was suspected to have mixed a poisonous substance with some beverage, which was consumed by the two chil­dren – Maame Affulba and Maame Serwaa – aged 6 and 8 respectively.

Speaking to Daily Guide, Chief Inspector Rock Hukportsi, Essikado Police Officer, said that the suspect would be put before court.

He added that during (court) proceedings, an identity card that confirms that she was on admission at the Ankaful hospital would be tendered in evi­dence and the police would wait for what the court would say.