The Takoradi Circuit Court B presided over by Her Honor, Abigail Anima Asare, has convicted a 38-year-old man, Kobina Ebo, for attempting to sell his 16-year-old son to a fetish priest for an amount of GH¢500,000.
The accused pleaded guilty to the charges leveled against him and, as such, the court has set Wednesday, May 4 to deliver the final judgment.
The prosecutor, Inspector Yawson, told the court that the accused on Thursday, March 3 at around 6:30am approached a spiritualist by the name Tanoh Kwaw at Ayesakro, a suburb of Axim in the Nzema East Municipality of the Western Region.
He then requested the spiritualist to use his son for rituals for him to get money.
The spiritualist declined but the accused returned the same day in the afternoon around 1:00 pm pestering the spiritualist to buy his son for an amount of GH¢500,000.
Seeing how desperate and determined the accused was, the spiritualist feigned interest and promised to get him people who could buy so he should go and bring the son.
The spiritualist informed the Axim Police Command and the accused was arrested when he had bargained with the plain-clothed policemen and had taken an envelope that was supposed to contain the amount at the residence of the spiritualist where they had all met.
He has been convicted by the court but he would be sentenced on Wednesday.
Speaking in an interview with Nhyiraba Paa Kwesi Simpson on Connect FM’s Omanbapa, the fetish Priest, Nana Tanoh Kwaw, expressed satisfaction with the speedy trial of the suspect.
According to him, he was shocked to have seen a father trying to use his son for money rituals at all cost.
“The mother of the young boy is dead so he wanted to sell him for that amount to me. I’m happy to hear that he has pleaded guilty and the court has convicted him. He should be punished to serve as a deterrent to anyone who thinks there is anything called money ritual. We must all help in clamping down on bad people in society. I don’t use my rituals to kill, I only help people,” he indicated.
The son in question is the eldest of three children the accused had with her former late wife.
The son together with his two other siblings have since been living with their grandmother at Akyerɛso, a village near Akim Oda in the Eastern Region.
The son has become a school dropout because of financial challenges.
The accused, therefore, took advantage of this, and knowing his plan, got permission from the grandmother and brought down the son to Ayesakro to accomplish his mission.
The son has since been sent back to his grandmother in the Eastern Region.