HUNDREDS MOURN BEKOE (P.31)

Story: Kofi Yeboah
THE Sakaman Presbyterian Church in Accra was thrown into a state of grief and wailing last Saturday as hundreds of mourners paid their last respect to Enoch Sakyi Bampoe Bekoe, who was allegedly murdered by his cousin on November 15, 2007.
Enoch, a 28-year-old BSc (Agriculture) degree holder from the University of Cape Coast and an employee of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Accra, was allegedly butchered by his embittered cousin, George Awuku Dompreh, 41, in a brutal incident that bemused family relations, friends and the entire Sakaman community.
Many of the family members, friends, schoolmates, working colleagues and sympathisers who attended the burial service could not hold back their tears as the soul of their departed brother and friend was ushered into divine grace before interment later at his home town, Adukrom, in the Eastern Region.
The suspect, Dompreh, is currently on remand at the Nsawam Prisons awaiting trial. Dompreh is alleged to have carried out a five-year threat he issued to visit mayhem on his aunt, Juliana Osew Dukwaa, who he accused of preventing him from marry the woman of his choice on the grounds that the woman hailed from the north.
He, however, did not understand why his aunt did not object to her son, Enoch, planning to marry a woman outside their hometown, Adukrom, and so on that fateful Thursday evening, he proceeded to inflict many machete wounds on Enoch after which he fled into hiding.
At the time of his death, Enoch was a couple of weeks away from marrying the daughter of a Presbyterian reverend minister whom he had courted for about three years.
An eye-witness told the police that around 9.00 p.m. on Thursday, he was with Enoch at his (Enoch’s) uncle’s residence when Dompreh knocked at the door and asked to see Enoch.
He said Enoch went outside, apparently to discuss something with his cousin. But after about 25 minutes, he (eye-witness) heard Enoch screaming for help and he rushed out, only to find Dompreh slashing Enoch with a machete.
As soon as Dompreh saw him (eye-witness), he bolted.
Enoch, who was bleeding profusely, was rushed to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Barely 48 hours after the Daily Graphic published the story on the front page of its Tuesday, November 20, 2007 issue, Dompreh was arrested by the police in Koforidua upon a tip-off.
At the time of his arrest he was in the possession of a nylon rope, which the police suspected he would have used to commit suicide.
In an interview, Dompreh confessed to the Daily Graphic that he killed his cousin to avenge the disapproval of his (Dompreh’s) marriage by his aunt.
“As a revenge, I also decided to kick against the marriage of their son, Enoch, and, therefore, decided to kill him, to end it all,” he said.
Dompreh said after completing his apprenticeship as a plumber, he met a Baasare woman, one Deborah Agyeiwaa, a 38-year-old seamstress, who lived at Oworam near Asamankese and intended to marry her.
He said he had had two children with Agyeiwaa, a boy and a girl, aged seven and four respectively, but pointed out that when he discussed his intention to marry Agyeiwaa with his aunt, she and her husband strongly kicked against the decision, with the explanation that Agyeiwaa was not from Adukrom.
According to Dompreh, following his unbending intention to marry Agyeiwaa, he invited his next of kin and his aunt and husband to accompany him to the hometown of Agyeiwaa to perform the marriage rites, but they both ignored him after which his aunt and the husband vowed not to have anything to do with him again.
“Apart from excluding and avoiding me as a family member, my aunt and her husband persistently cursed me to know no peace and happiness in life again, because of my vow to marry Agyeiwaa. I think this spell has been the cause of my present predicament,” Dompreh added.