Police in Kwesimintsim in Takoradi have retrieved the lifeless body of a three year old male baby near the Subri River at Ayiem in the Mpohor District of the Western Region.

The baby, according to residents, may have been killed for ritual purposes.

According to the Tufuhene of Ayiem, Nana Addae, he together with some community members chanced upon the naked three year old baby under a tree that serves as gods near the Subri River on Thursday morning.

He says they were convinced the baby may have been killed for rituals because a calico was found with six eggs on it, a bowl of mashed plantain and yam with palm oil, and an empty schnapps bottle.

“The empty schnapps bottle means libation took place when the rituals were being performed over there. There was blood from one of the baby’s legs. It seems they used something to stab either the right or the left leg so there was blood oozing from that area alongside the abdomen. I have informed majority of the Ayiem people to help the police arrest the perpetrators because this is very bad and a new thing in this village,” Nana Addae stated.

Police in Kwesimintsim have deposited the body of the baby at the Dixcove Government Hospital in the Ahanta West District for autopsy.  

Kwesimintsim District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Issa Yakubu, tells Maxx News they cannot immediately describe the incident as a ritual murder.

According to him, no part of the body had been removed as it often occurs in most ritual murders.

“Information we have so far indicates that this boy was born a cripple, deaf and dumb and the parents have not been happy so they contacted a ritualist to get the baby out of their lives. So it looks like they did that by killing the baby and then took him to the riverside. This is what we are hearing. The parents are also on the run so we are yet to arrest them to go into detailed investigations. We have identified them and are pursuing them. When we went to their house, their doors were not even locked. They heard the news on air so they bolted before we got there,” he noted.

This is the second time in a fortnight that such an incident has occurred in the Western Region. In the first incident, a week ago, a 45 year old man beheaded his fiancée’s four year old daughter at Kyekyewere in the Tarkwa-Nsuem Municipality. The man later died later at the Hospital following a mob action.