The love associated with St Valentine's Day turned into anger and later became bloody in a family when a linguist of the Omanhene of Nsuta in the Sekyere Central District in the Ashanti Region allegedly shot his nephew dead in the bush.
That was because Nana Akwasi Topah, 70, the linguist, suspected his nephew, Kofi Sunkwa, 45, of twice setting fire to his cocoa farm at Bani village, near Beposo.He, therefore, carried through his earlier threat to kill Sunkwa by shooting him with his single-barrelled gun Tuesday morning.
Nana Topah is in the grip of the police and, according to the Mampong District Police Commander, DSP Abdulai Idrissu, he had confessed to the crime.DSP Idrissu told the graphic.com.gh on phone from his base in Mampong that there was a family dispute over Nana Topah�s cocoa far.
The suspect claimed to have farmed on the land for over 30 years and wondered why some family members were bent on denying him the opportunity to earn a living on the land.The deceased, who was also a farmer and palm wine tapper, had his farm sharing a boundary with his uncle�s.
DSP Idrissu said the suspect recently experienced two bush fires on his cocoa farm which affected about a quarter of the farm.Suspecting that his late nephew had set the fire, Nana Topah confronted him but Sunkwa denied the allegation.
The matter went before an arbitration at the family house, during which Nana Topah allegedly threatened to kill his nephew if he ever found him on the cocoa farm.
About 8.30 a.m. Tuesday, the linguist hid on his farm with the gun and when he saw the deceased getting closer to the cocoa farm, he opened fire on Sunkwa, killing him instantly.The linguist was arrested when the police got wind of the incident, while the body of the deceased was conveyed to the morgue for autopsy.
The district police chief said Nana Topah had confessed to killing his nephew to prevent Sunkwa from further invasion of his farm.
According to DSP Idrissu, the linguist would be arraigned before court on Thursday on a provisional charge of murder.
<<Print>>