A nine-year-old boy has been killed in an inferno after his stepfather set their home ablaze at Medoma in the Ashanti Region on Monday dawn.

The blaze swept through four rooms in the apartment in which they live, affecting other families.

The man, known only as Agyemang, his wife and twin of the deceased, sustained various degrees of injury.

The step-father is said to have repeatedly assaulted his wife and two children.

“When I got home the night before the incident, the woman pleaded with me to speak to her husband. She said he was not happy with her since she accepted a phone from her brother.

"I called him and pleaded with him to desist from assaulting his wife,” the landlord, Daniel Opoku narrated.

“He agreed and asked for forgiveness. I threatened to evacuate as I have done on several occasions,” he added.

Mr Opoku says deep into the night, sounds of a loud cry for help woke him up.

The landlord subsequently found the burglar proof to the apartment locked.

“I managed to open the door and saved the woman and the girl but I couldn’t get to the boy. The woman later told the guy had wet a blanket and thrown it on the boy before starting the fire,” he added.

The nine-year-old boy, Prince Oti Atta, is said to have shown great potential in drawing and was widely described as a bubbly child.

Firefighters after extinguishing the fire recovered the charred body of the victim and deposited it at the morgue.

Other families occupying the house managed the escape unhurt.

But they lost all their property to the inferno with no hope of a place to pass the night.

The rationale behind the man’s action remains unclear.

He is currently receiving treatment at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital under police watch.