MAN REMANDED OVER WIFE'S DEATH ...(Page 19)

Story: Nana Konadu Agyeman, Akropong

A 50-year-old palm wine tapper who allegedly murdered his 60-year-old wife at Addo-Nkwanta near Adawso in the Akuapem North District of the Eastern Region has been remanded in police custody by the Akropong Circuit Court.
Kwame Seke, the accused, was said to have left for his farm in the morning of December 29, 2007 and returned home about 8 p.m, only to find his wife, Ama Adukpo, alias Mansa, a farmer and petty trader, lying dead in a pool of blood in the yard of their compound house in a remote cottage.
The accused, who had been married to the deceased for six years without any child, was charged with murder. His plea was not taken.
He was remanded by the court to reappear on February 14, this year.
The prosecutor, Detective Chief Inspector P. K.Nyanueke of the Akropong Police Division, told the court, presided over by Mr Yaw Owusu Kwarteng, that on December 29, last year, the accused, in a caution statement, told the police that he went to his farm that fateful day and returned home at about 8 p.m only to find his wife dead in a pool of blood.
Instead of shouting for help, the prosecutor said, Seke, who had six children from his previous marriage, told the police that he carried his dead wife into the room and placed her on a mat.
Mr Nyanueke said the accused stated that after taking his bath, he went out to inform some neighbours, one Paterson Gamli and another woman, about the incident.
He said the accused pleaded with the woman to dress the deceased and place her in a loin cloth (amonsi) but she declined, with the explanation that since she did not come from the same tribe as the dead, she could not perform such an act.
The prosecutor indicated that after the two neighbours had left the scene, Seke dressed his wife, after which he poured water on the blood stains on the door to the room, some silver pans belonging to the wife and the floor in an attempt to “do away with the stains”.
He said Gamli later informed two members of the unit committee, who went to the scene and later informed other members of the committee, who reported the incident to the police and the accused was arrested.
The prosecutor said since the death of the deceased remained a mystery, the court should remand the accused person to enable the police to carry out investigations into the matter, which the court obliged.