Why I Killed My Wife…

•Fetish Priest Confesses

Papa Yaw Agbenyo, the fetish priest cum herbalist, who allegedly butchered his former wife, Afisa Salami on December 1, 2006, at Mensahkrom near Agona Swedru, has told the police that he removed his late wife’s vital parts after the act.

He indicated that he used those organs to perform rituals to prevent her ghost from haunting him. The police could however not trace those parts when they exhumed the mutilated body of Afisa on December 8, 2006. Apart from Afisa, Agbenyo confessed to have killed seven other people also. However, a mob that ransacked his premises said they found more than eight skulls, indicating that the man was a serial killer. Boxes of dollar bills were also found in his house, but the mob set them ablaze because they said they contained blood money.

DSP Osei Kwadwo, Divisional Crime Officer of Agona Swedru, who disclosed this to Daily Guide in an interview yesterday, said Afisa and Agbenyo lived together as man and wife in a cottage near Mensahkrom in the Agona district, sometime ago. During the marriage, three and half-year old Wisdom Agbenyo was born.

However, the marriage broke up along the line, so Afisa left Mensahkrom to live with her parents at Akroso.On December 1, 2006, little Wisdom fell sick and his mother sent him to a clinic, where she incurred a cost of ¢250,000.Subsequently, she decided to go to her former husband for the money.

There, she met one Doggy, alias Ahedor, who she knew at Akroso. Agbenyo told his former wife he could afford only ¢100,000 because his current wife was also not well and he had to take care of her. This, according to DSP Osei, did not go down well with Afisa, resulting in a quarrel between the two, during which Agbenyo became so furious that he threatened to slash Afisa if she did not leave the place.

At this juncture, Doggy tried to intervene, knowing well Agbenyo’s temperament. However, Agbenyo took offence at this and warned Doggy to desist from intervening because the matter was between he (Agbenyo) and Afisa. He was even said to have accused Afisa of promoting a woman for Doggy, hence his unwarranted intervention. At this point, Doggy left the place, and the quarrel continued.

According to DSP Osei, Agbenyo at a stage, went into his room, brought out a sharp cutlass, and slashed Afisa’s neck, killing her instantly without even a scream from her. This was because her neck was almost chopped off completely by that single blow. After this, Agbenyo wrapped the body in a raincoat, placed it behind the building, and buried it in the night after severing the limbs.

He removed the heart and genital also for rituals. According to the crime officer, Agbenyo cut the victim’s head off, buried it with the limbs at one place, and after, buried the body about 50 metres away. However, on the fourth day, when Afisa’s family could not find her at Akroso, Doggy got wind of it and called Agbenyo on his cell phone. That was when he confirmed that he had carried out his threat.

Doggy subsequently passed the message on to Afisa’s family, who in turn reported the matter to the police. Agbenyo was then arrested and he admitted committing the crime. He was said to have accused Doggy of having brought a man to his cottage sometime ago to kill, which they did, and after, he, Agbenyo assisted him to bury the body. The two were subsequently charged before an Agona Swedru Circuit court presided over by Justice C.A Wilson, and have been remanded in police custody to re-appear on January 16, 2007.