PHOTO: Couple kills son over sex

• Posted on July 5, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

THE MILE 7 Police have arrested a couple who allegedly beat their eight-year-old son to death on suspicion that he was a warlock who wanted to have sex with his mother The couple, after committing the heinous act, according to the police, secretly buried the boy in an abandoned dumping site near their house at Dome, a suburb of Accra.

The suspects are Comfort Tene Abunbero, 26, a trader, and her husband Michael Kweku Obeng, 27, unemployed.

They have been provisionally charged with the offence of abetment of crime and murder by the police and would be prosecuted soon.

Facts

Briefing DAILY GUIDE, DSP Henry Agbeve, the Mile 7 District Crime Officer, said the incident occurred in June at Dome near Achimota, but the case was reported on Thursday, July 3, 2014.

Juliana Abunbero, mother of Comfort Abunbero, visited the station together with a man whom she claimed was her son to report that her own daughter Comfort Abunbero had conspired with her husband Michael Obeng to kill her grandson Robert.

Madam Juliana said she did not understand circumstances under which the child died so she wanted the police to investigate the matter.

Findings

The Mile 7 Crime Officer said the police immediately apprehended the couple and upon interrogation they realized that the child was buried the same night he died.

The couple initially told the police that the boy, Robert Abunbero, fell ill and died.

Further investigations however revealed that the couple beat up the child until he died last month.

On the night the child died, investigations revealed that he vomited after eating his evening supper.

The mother, Comfort, bathed the boy and consequently asked him to go pick up a particular clothing to wear for the night since the weather was very cold.

The deceased apparently went into his things but could not find that particular dress he was asked to pick.

When Robert reported to the mother that he could not find the clothes, Comfort, in anger, went into the things to pick that dress after which she subjected the boy to severe beatings for refusing to look further for the dress.

The husband, Michael Obeng, in the process, asked the boy to kneel down and raise the arms but the deceased refused.

In anger, Michael Obeng also subjected the boy to severe kicks and beatings until the latter collapsed.

The couple poured water on the boy to revive him but all to no avail.

After realizing that the boy had died, the two wrapped him in one of their bed sheets, and carried him that night around 10:00pm to a nearby bush which used to be a dumping site.

They then buried the boy there, and to avoid suspicion spread refuse on the grave before leaving.

Later when the grandmother asked the whereabouts of the child, the two gave conflicting statement of his death, prompting the grandmother to inform the police.

Daily Guide Findings

Findings by the paper indicated that the couple always subjected the boy to severe beatings on suspicion that he was a warlock who wanted to have sex with his mother.

It was gathered that the parents had complained to whoever cared to listen that the deceased had a penchant for pulling on the cover-cloth of his mother whenever she was asleep. For this reason the boy was always subjected to severe beatings at the least provocation on the allegation that he was possessed by an evil spirit.

The boy, who is a step son to suspect Michael Obeng, was initially residing with the grandmother Juliana Abunbero in Naaga in the Upper East Region before the mother requested that he was brought down to continue with his education.

Consequently, Robert was sent down in May this year by the grandmother to his mother at Dome.

The couple, who have three children together, allegedly said they suspected the boy to be a wizard because sometimes he behaved strangely and when he was beaten or subjected to torture, he hardly shed tears.

They also accused the little boy of pulling his own manhood anytime he was alone or with his other siblings.

Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE also revealed that because of the torture the little boy was subjected to, he was hardly seen outside the house anytime the parents were at home.

BY Linda Tenyah