Driver Hangs For Love

A SENIOR High School (SHS) form-two student of an Nsawam private school (name withheld) has told DAILY GUIDE in an exclusive interview that it will be wrong to accuse her of the death of her lover, a 30-year-old trotro driver and resident of Gbetsile near Afienya.

According to the school girl, she could not have been the cause of Jerry Amoah’s death, especially when they had entered into a blood covenant, indicating that it came as a surprise to her that he committed suicide because of her.

The body of Jerry Amoah was found hanging on a mango tree on Tuesday April 30, 2013.

The driver hanged himself over what he explained in a suicide note, written behind a photograph of the young lady, attributing his decision to end his life to an alleged failed love relationship with the 20-year old SHS student.

The body of the driver, according to Corporal Joseph Barabu, Assistant Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Tema Regional Police Command, was found by some residents of Dam City, a Gbetsile suburb.

The assembly woman for the area, according to the PRO, called the Emef Estate Police and informed them about the incident.

He said when the police got to the scene around 5:30am, the deceased’s body was dangling on the mango tree.

A search conducted on the deceased revealed a photograph of the unnamed SHS student concealed between his chest and a singlet he wore before committing the abominable act.

The suicide note on the back of the photograph was allegedly written by the jilted driver, and it clearly explained the reason for his action.

Even though he did not mention her name, he clearly indicated that he was broken hearted by the news of her leaving him.

Perhaps not being able to withstand the fact that she had left him, he allegedly sneaked from his house at dawn and went to the scene to hang himself.

His death, according to the police, had surprised his family, as he had shown no sign of experiencing any relationship problems prior to his death.

His mother and brother, according to police, did not even know the said lady.

They mentioned to the police that even though they had never met her in person, they were aware that he had a girlfriend based in Nsawam in the Eastern Region and occasionally he visited her.

Amoah reportedly returned from Nsawam three days prior to his death and said nothing to his family.

It was believed that he might have been dumped by the school girl when he visited her, a couple of days before his death.

The 20-year-old girl, who was yet to honour police invitation to help with investigation, had meanwhile denied any wrong doing.

Narrating her side of the story to DAILY GUIDE on phone, she said she got to know the deceased through a social network, Facebook, about eight months ago.

“Initially we were friends until one day when he proposed to me. He had earlier explained to me that he was dating a Nigerian girl who travelled to her country without informing him, so when she came back, he declined to accept her. He had been a good friend so when he proposed I accepted his proposal and became his girlfriend until his untimely death last Tuesday,” the SHS girl said.

According to her, even though the deceased had persistently refused to send her to his house to meet his family, she made him meet her mother a couple of times and quickly added that her mother was aware of her relationship with him.

She mentioned that his death had been devastating for her and her mother over the last few days, as she had not been able to eat or sleep.

“It is like a dream to me that he ended his life because he thought I had another boyfriend apart from him,” she agonized.

Refusing to accept that she might have indirectly caused his death, she noted that prior to his death, Amoah called her and insisted that she moved in with him at his place at Gbetsile instead of staying with her uncle at Teshie.

She said she explained to him that her uncle was away at work and pleaded with him to allow her sometime to convince the uncle to grant her the permission to go and stay with him.

“He warned that if I could not give him an answer by Tuesday, April 30, 2013, then I should not try to call him again as he would not pick up my phone calls. True to his words, he declined to answer my calls on Tuesday. It came as a huge surprise to me when the news of his death reached me later that day. I just can’t believe he did that,” she noted.

She described him as a caring person who occasionally supported her with school fees and provisions and sometimes gave her money for her upkeep.

Sounding very emotional, she said even though she was against the idea of making a blood covenant with him, she did it to convince him that she loved him.

“We went to a fetish priest somewhere in Ashaiman where we both did this blood covenant in the presence of the fetish priest. I know it was wrong for me to have done that but I did it to let him know how much I loved him,” she stated.

She also told DAILY GUIDE that even though she had never been to his house before, she had spent some days with him in a hotel in Ashaiman a couple of times.

She revealed that she might remain single for the rest of her life, as her previous relationships with men had not been the best.