The three boys are Tanko, 12, a Class Two pupil of the Demonstration School, Bechem; Alafat, nine, a KG Two pupil of the same school, and Moses, six, a KG Two pupil of the Anglican Basic School, Bechem, and the girl, Atikka, a pupil of the Crèche Department of the Joy International School, also in Bechem.
According to eyewitnesses who pleaded anonymity, the children did not go to school last Tuesday, October 14, 2014, because of financial problems.
Parents
They said the children’s Nigerian mother, whose name was only given as Auntie Mary, a trader, cooked for the children and left for town to sell things about 3 p.m.
According to them, Auntie Mary left the children in the care of their father, Mallam Zakaria, a known spiritualist in the area.
Mallam Zakaria was also said to have left for town, leaving the children alone in the house about 5 p.m.
When Auntie Mary returned home and could not find her children in the house, she went to the nearby houses where the children always went to play with their friends.
Search party
After an unsuccessful search by the mother, some of the residents joined in the search.
The eyewitnesses said after many attempts to trace the children had yielded no results, the search party went to the children’s home, where they instinctively opened one unused deep freezer which had been abandoned in one of the rooms, only to find all the children dead in it.
They, however, said there were no bloodstains in the deep freezer or on the bodies of the children.
Police investigate
When contacted, the Brong Ahafo Regional Police PRO, ASP Christopher Tagoe, confirmed the incident and said “the police are gathering facts”.
He said the bodies of the children had been deposited at the Bechem Government Hospital pending autopsy to identify the cause of death.
Meanwhile, both Auntie Mary and Mallam Zakaria have been arrested by the police, while the deep freezer in which the bodies were found has been deposited at the Bechem Police Station.
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(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)