One person has been shot dead as the remains of a local chief has been burnt during a conflict over burial space at Tehey in the Ada West District of the Greater Accra Region.
Irate gun-toting members of the faction that opposed the burial of the late chief, Nene Mensah Zotorvi V, in his residence at the Tehey community, attacked the family and mourners with machetes, clubs and other offensive weapons, resulting in the death of a 40-year-old man, Ofotsu Sabbah, with many other mourners sustaining life-threatening injuries.
The survivors of the conflict are currently battling for their lives at the Ada East District Hospital.
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Ofotsu Sabbah’s bullet-riddled and severely bruised and blood-stained body was found in an uncompleted building on Sunday morning, 16 September 2018, when police officers in the company of the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area, officials of the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) and some journalists arrived at the scene.
The DCE, Adzoteye Laweh Akrofi, who spoke to the media on Monday, 17 September 2018, said he received reports that one of the factions had secured a court injunction on Tuesday, September 11, 2018, to restrain the late chief’s family from burying him in his house at Tehey.
However, the court order was only served on the late chief’s family on late Saturday at the funeral grounds at Tamatoku in the Ada East District.
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Mr Akrofi said the organisers of the funeral, after studying the injunction, agreed to bury the late chief at a different place.
However, a commotion ensued which resulted in the torching of the ambulance carrying the chief’s corpse.
Mr Akrofi said he has been devastated by the incident. According to him, an emergency District Security Committee (DISEC) meeting will be convened today, Monday, 17 September, to get to the bottom of the matter and also forestall reprisal attacks.
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He called on both factions to remain calm as the security agencies deal with the case.
The charred body of the late chief and the remains of the mourner who got killed in the melee have been sent to the police hospital for preservation and autopsy, respectively.