Five suspects arrested by the Police in the Savannah Region in connection with the lynching of Akua Denteh, a 90-year-old woman at Kafaba, for allegedly being a witch have been formally charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
They are however currently on remand in police custody after making their first appearance in court on Thursday, July 30, 2020.
The Savannah Regional Police Commander, DCOP Enoch Adutwum Bediako, told Umaru Sanda Amadu on Eyewitness News that the police is going ahead with its investigation to get to the end of the issue.
“Yesterday [Wednesday], around 10 am, five of the leaders who invited the priestess to Kafaba reported themselves to the Regional Police Command at Damongo here. We arrested them and during interrogation, they all admitted having invited the priestess to the community…This morning we took the five to court and they have been remanded in police custody to reappear on 20th August 2020…They have been charged with conspiracy to commit crime, to wit murder,” he said.
The suspects, all male, are said to have invited and hosted the priestess who declared the deceased a witch and instigated her lynching.
DCOP Bediako said the police are currently on the manhunt for the priestess and another woman who were seen in the viral video lynching the 90-year-old woman.
“Those two women are now at large and we are seriously looking for them… And we plead with the public to help us get them.”
The police have put up a bounty of GHS2,000 for information leading to the arrest of the two.
Kafaba chief granted bail
Meanwhile, the Kafaba chief, Zackaria Yahaya who was earlier arrested has been granted bail.
According to the police, the five other suspects in their statements indicated that the chief did not play any role in the development as he even asked them to send the priestess away when they went to introduce her to him before the lynching incident.
“The youth did not agree with the chief and went on to do what they did and this unfortunate thing happened… All the five said the chief didn’t agree with what they were doing and therefore he was not part of what they were doing. Based on that, we have to grant the chief bail pending further investigations…He spent the night there because we got the suspects the following day,” he said.
The lynching of the woman which was captured on video has triggered a conversation about the treatment of old women alleged to be witches especially in deprived communities in the country.
