50-year-old farmer in police grips over suspected murder of wife

Correspondence from the Eastern Region

The entire farming community of Apla in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region has been thrown into a state of shock following Thursday’s suspected murder of a married woman by her husband.

Police at Oterkporlu on the morning of Thursday, June 22, 2023 arrested 50-year-old Seth Ayenor, a farmer for the suspected murder of his 42-year-old wife, Victoria Ayenor, also a farmer.

The couple lived together with their 11-year-old daughter, the younger of two

daughters the couple had together.

Detailing the events surrounding the incident to GhanaWeb, Tetteh Joana Korkor, 38, sister of the deceased and resident at Mampong also in the same municipality disclosed that she received a call around 2 am on Thursday from some neighbours of the couple at Apla that her sister had died following a short illness.

Miss Tetteh Joana Korkor furthered that upon reaching the scene later that morning at 9.20 am, however, the state in which she found her sister and a thorough observation of the place by herself and neighbours suggested that the accused murdered his wife, contrary to his assertion that her death was an accident following the collapse of a wall of the room which they occupied.

Seth Ayenor while pleading innocent prior to the arrival of the police reportedly told members of the community that a section of the wall of the room collapsed on his wife in the dead of the night while he sat in the middle of the compound.

He continued that he subsequently raised an alarm, drawing neighbours to the scene.

The neighbours who were not satisfied with the husband’s narrations, tied him up to prevent him from escaping pending the arrival of the police.

“He claims he’s innocent, that he was under a tree in the house when he heard a thud followed by a cry of pain from the deceased who was in the room, only to realize that his wife had died, that’s his account,” narrated Miss Korkor.

But countering his brother-in-law’s claim of innocence however, the visibly shaken sister disclosed: “She was bleeding from her head and the whole place was stained in blood…the hospital authorities [at St. Martin de Porres] said she was struck in the head with a cutlass.”

According to her, the suspect, after committing the heinous crime attempted wiping away all touches of evidence by wiping traces of blood with their bedsheet and some clothing.

These items were subsequently retrieved by the police upon a thorough search of the surrounding areas. Some suspected marijuana was also found wrapped in a shirt belonging to the suspect in the surrounding bush of the house.

The suspect is currently in custody at the Asesewa District Police Command pending further investigations into the case.

Seth is also reported to have given a different account of the circumstances leading to his wife’s death to the police, claiming that his late wife died as a result of a physical confrontation between them following a misunderstanding.

Victoria’s remains have since been deposited at the morgue of the St. Martin’s De Porres Hospital at Agormanya for preservation and autopsy.

The couple have been married for the past fifteen years with two kids besides two other children the woman had before her marriage to Seth.

Miss Tetteh Joana Korkor described her late sister as a kind and loving woman, adding that her death was a great loss to the family. She urged the police to conduct thorough investigations into the incident to unravel the true circumstances surrounding the death of their kinswoman.