14-Year-Old JHS Graduate Allegedly Murdered For Rituals At Prestea Kutukrom
Musah Atta, a 14-year-old Junior High School (JHS) graduate has allegedly been murdered by one Rasta and three galamsey operators at Prestea Kutukrom for gold rituals.
According to Nana Salifu who is the Kusaasi Chief at Prestea and the PRO for the Northern Farmers Association in Western Region, the deceased had returned to his father at Prestea after completing his Junior High School education in Garu Tempane to work and mobilise some money to support his Senior High School education.
Nana Salifu said that the deceased who worked as an Okada (Motor) Rider went missing for a while and so they decided to search for him when his younger sister informed them that a certain guy by name Rasta contracted the deceased to drop him at his village and that was the last time he was seen.
He says this propelled them (the Okada Riders) to mount a manhunt for Rasta. They found some blood on his veranda when they got to his house but he was on the run so they took videos of the scene and went to the police station to lodge a complaint.
“However, the police managed to arrest Rasta at Sampa Boarder in the Bono Region when he was trying to sneak out of the country about a week ago. The suspect (Rasta) was handed over to the Prestea Police for interrogation and confessed that he did not kill the boy but was only contracted by some guys to bring the deceased which he did but even he was not given the full amount of money they promised him” he told 3FM
According to Nana Salifu they were able to arrest the other three suspects who led the police to the bush on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 to exhume the body of the deceased and have deposited the body at Prestea Government Hospital Morgue.
He told Alfred Ocansey that some of the community guys insisted on lynching the suspects but the police tried to prevent them which led to a serious confrontation between them. As a result, four of the guys sustained injuries and two are receiving treatment at the government hospital whereas two others are in police custody. Nana Salifu has accused the Prestea Police of shooting and destroying their motor bikes.
“The police have warned us that nobody should step foot at the police station. I took dropping for our Abusuapenyin (Family Head) to go to the station for update but the police drove him away” he said
Nana Salifu alleges that the galamsey guys killed the boy for a ritual to get more gold.