Fetish priest remanded over gold theft

A fetish priest accused of gold theft, has been held in prison custody by the Bibiani Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Baptist Kwadwo Filson. Ibrahim Kamara, 34, denied any wrongdoing and would make his next appearance on Thursday, July 10.

Two brothers, Kofi Asiamah and Kojo Antwi, had sought the assistance of the accused to dig out a pot of gold buried on a farm by their grandparents. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Emma Madona Abotsi told the court that this happened at Atonsu, a farmstead in the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai District.

About two years ago, Asiamah and Antwi were told of the hidden gold by their father and fearing that they could be tormented by evil spirits, they engaged the accused to perform some esoteric rituals to remove the precious mineral.

The fetish priest, who had other ideas, instructed the two brothers to keep the gold for some days but later took it back from them under the pretext of carrying out spiritual purification.

The prosecution said as part of the so called spiritual cleansing, he gave a tiny bit of the gold to the complainants to be buried at a waste dumping site and collected cash of GH¢5,000.00 to buy certain items required to complete the rituals. All efforts to get Kamara to return the gold were unsuccessful and the matter was formally reported to the police.