Pati Bande, an 18-year-old herdsman, has been remanded by a Circuit Court in Wa for allegedly killing and burying his 14-year-old younger brother, Haruna Rashid.
The court, presided over by His Worship Maxwell Maxibrain Titriku, remanded the suspect into police custody to enable the police to complete investigations. He is to reappear in court on January 24, 2025.
The facts presented to the court by Detective Sergeant Appiah Samuel, the investigator in charge of the case, indicated that the incident occurred at Duwie, a community in the Sissala West District.
The court heard that Mr. Haruna Bande, aged 50, a herdsman and father of both the accused and the victim, reported the incident to the Gwollu District Police Command on January 7, 2025, at about 10:30 a.m.
According to the facts, Pati Bande allegedly cut off the victim’s head and penis and removed his heart.
The body was placed in a sack and buried in the bush, while the severed head, heart, and penis were also buried around the cattle ranch at the complainant’s house in Duwie.
The court further heard that the suspect was arrested at the Duwie Chief’s Palace, where the police were informed.
Upon receiving the report, the police, along with Mr. Munkailo Waah, a Physician Assistant at Gwollu Hospital, and Mr. Alhassan Abdul Razak, an Environmental Officer, proceeded to the palace and met with the Regent of Duwie, Kanwei Haruna, the deceased’s father, and the suspect, Pati Bande.
The suspect, along with his father and other community leaders, led the team to a nearby bush where he pointed to a valley where the victim’s body was buried.
The body was exhumed and found wrapped in a sack. Upon inspection, it was confirmed that the head, penis, and heart had been removed.
Further inquiries led the suspect to guide the police to his father’s cattle ranch, about a kilometer from the first burial site, where the missing body parts were also found buried.
The parts were exhumed and examined by Mr. Munkailo Waah, who verbally indicated the cause of death as decapitation due to the complete severing of the head.
In his caution statement, the suspect, Pati Bande, admitted to killing his younger brother, Haruna Rashid, at the cattle ranch after they returned from the bush with the cattle around 5:00 a.m. He did not provide a reason for the killing.