Chinese Miner Allegedly Murdered

Mou Feiming, a Chinese miner who was working with Tim Freeman Small Scale Mining Company at Dunkwa-On-Offin in the Upper Denkyira East District of the Central Region, has allegedly been murdered. An alleged prime suspect arrested in connection with the gruesome murder, Adwoa Boatemaa, has been granted a GH�5,000 bail with two sureties by an Asante-Bekwai District Magistrate court. She pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder. Madam Boatemaa allegedly hatched a plan with 4 other suspects from Manso Akyekyekrom in the Ashanti Region and purportedly murdered the Chinese national. Three out of the four, Yaw Domfeh and Edward Nkrumah, �galamsey� operators, and Stephen Amponsah, an excavator machine operator, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, were remanded into prison custody. They are to reappear before the court presided over by Stephen Abugri on August 24, 2011. The fourth suspect, Yaw Sarfo, is on the run. DSP Stephen Kwakye, Manso Nkwanta District Police Commander, told Daily Guide that on June 26, 2011 at about 5pm, the deceased was travelling in a white Toyota Hilux double-cabin pick-up with registration number GN 182-11 from Yaw Kasa to the company�s branch at Manukrom in the Ashanti Region. He said on reaching a spot at Manso Akyekyerekrom in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region, Yaw Sarfo, a former driver of the deceased, emerged from a nearby bush and asked the deceased to stop. Immediately Mou Feiming stopped, the male suspects, who were allegedly hiding in the bush armed with cutlasses, a gun and axes, came out and allegedly pulled the deceased out of his vehicle to the bush where they tied his legs with a blue nylon robe and purportedly murdered him. The accused persons abandoned the corpse in the bush and drove the deceased�s vehicle to Kumasi and sold it to an unidentified person. The body of the Chinese national was later found in the bush by some of the residents in the area. A report was made to the police who retrieved the body from the bush and conveyed it to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi for autopsy. Management of Small Scale Mining Company, as part of their efforts to arrest the alleged murderers, had put aside GH�7,000 as a reward for anyone who would volunteer information to the police that would lead to the arrest of the assailants. According to DSP Kwakye, after selling the Toyota pick-up, a misunderstanding ensued among the four male suspects when they later met at Bantama to share the money accrued from the sale of the car. Unhappy with the sharing, Yaw Sarfo allegedly informed somebody of the deal who in turn hinted the police, leading to the arrest of the first three suspects, by which time Yaw Sarfo had bolted. Police investigations revealed that the alleged plan to kill the Chinese national was hatched in the room of Adwoa Boatemaa, mother of Yaw Sarfo. Madam Boatemaa was therefore arrested by the police but was granted bail when she appeared before the court while the other three suspects were remanded into prison custody. DSP Kwakye stressed that the police had intensified their search for Yaw Sarfo whom the three suspects had alleged was the one who sold the car. He also appealed to the management of the mining company to furnish the police with the vehicle�s chassis number to help them find the car.