Farmer who fled after butchering lover to death apprehended

Dabala (V/R), Jan. 12, GNA - Kofi Fiaku, 31, a farmer, who allegedly butchered his lover to death last year at a farming village near Dabala in the South Tongu District and went into hiding, has been arrested.

The suspect allegedly murdered the lover when she told him she could no longer marry him.

Fiaku on Monday returned to the area under the cover of darkness from his hideout in Accra to have a feel of how people were reacting to his conduct but was arrested following a tip-off. Sources within the community told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that Fiaku who lived at Bekpo engaged the deceased, Zasi Gbeve, 30, a trader in foodstuffs from Abotoase in the Jasikan District in an illicit affair with the promise to marry.

The sources said Gbeve who was a married woman with four children based at Abotoase, refused to disclose her true marital status to her new lover. In November last year, however, she hinted the suspect that she could no longer marry him because her mother declined to approve of the relationship.

The sources said Fiaku then demanded the refund of an amount of 900,000 cedis he gave the deceased to support her trading activities but she refused to pay back.

The sources said at about 1830 hours on Sunday, December 3, last year, the accused armed with a sharp cutlass ambushed and attacked Gbeve while she was returning from a funeral in another village in the company of two other ladies and inflicted multiple cutlass wounds on her leading to her instant death.

The two fleeing friends, the sources said raised the alarm but it was too late for neighbours to rescue her.

A Police source at Dabala said the accused would soon be put before court on a provisional charge of murder, adding that the body of the deceased was being kept at the Sogakope District Hospital morgue pending autopsy.

Chief Inspector Kwame Nanevi, in charge of Dabala Police confirmed the story but declined any further comments.