HORROR AT KASOA - FOUR MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD, TWO OTHERS IN CRITICAL CONDITION (Front page) 16-08-08

Story: Kofi Yeboah

RESIDENTS of Kasoa New Town in the Central Region woke up early yesterday to the horrific news of the murder of four members of a household, including three children, in cold blood.
The victims, Zaliatu Mohammed, 28, and her two sons, Baki Mohammed, nine and Abdul Mubarak, two, as well as Latifa, seven, a niece of Zaliatu’s husband, were allegedly butchered to death with a machete by another member of the household, the motive for which is not yet clear.
But the suspect, Ibrahim Issah, 28, told the Daily Graphic on his Police Hospital bed that he was innocent of the crime.
Saliatu’s husband, Mohammed Seidu, a 44-year-old herbalist, was not in the house at the time of the incident, but in an interview, he said about a week ago, Ibrahim had told the children that he would kill and burn them, a threat he and his wife treated as a joke.
Only two members of the household, Hajia Seidu, Mohammed’s mother and Rahinatu, 11, a family relation, managed to escape unscathed.
Mohammed’s other two children, Sherifatu Mohammed, seven and Masaudu Mohammed, 20, were in critical condition at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital when the Daily Graphic team got there at 2:30p.m.
Sherifatu was said to have sustained machete wounds, including a cut on the ear, while Masaudu also had machete wounds on his head and other parts of the body.
Medical officials at the hospital said Sherifatu, who was at the Intensive Care Unit, had been referred to a neuro-surgeon, while Masaudu, who was at the Emergency and Accident Unit, had been referred to a plastic surgeon.
After the callous act, the suspect, Ibrahim Issah, 28, was alleged to have stabbed himself with a knife, having his intestines gushing out, and set the house ablaze.
He is currently on admission at the Police Hospital, where he is undergoing treatment under armed police guard.
The Medical Officer in charge of the Outpatient Department (OPD) of the hospital, ASP Vida Ampadu, said Ibrahim had burns and intestinal wounds when admitted.
He was being sent to the theatre at the time the Daily Graphic visited the hospital.
When the Graphic team arrived at the house of the victims around 11 a.m., a large anxious crowd had gathered there to witness the scene amidst wailing.
Crime scene experts from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters in Accra and personnel from the Kasoa Police were on the scene for investigations.
As soon as the police carried the dead bodies into a truck to convey them to the morgue, the wailings from the crowd intensified as they kept mentioning the names of the victims, particularly the woman, whom they described as being very friendly.
The District Police Commander of Kasoa, Superintendent Isaac Kwesi Buabeng, said the police were in the early stages of investigations.
A resident of the area, Sumaila Alidu, said around 4:30 a.m., while going for early morning Muslim prayers, he and some other persons in the area saw smoke coming out of the house of the victims.
When they rushed to the scene, they realised all the doors had been barricaded and therefore broke into the rooms through the windows, and managed to rescue the two survivors and the two injured persons to the hospital.
He said they found Zaliatu and one of the children burnt in the inferno, and later in their search, they found Ibrahim locked up in another room with some burns on the body and knife wound in the stomach.
Later in an interview, the father of the children, Mohammed, said his deceased mentor had taught him herbal medicine and Arabic and as a show of gratitude to him, he decided to take care of Ibrahim, who was the son of his mentor’s friend.
He said Ibrahim had, therefore, been staying with them for the past four years and there was no ill feeling among them.
This assertion was corroborated by some residents of the area, who said Ibrahim was a very quiet person and had cordial relations with the children and the entire family.
Police investigations continue.