Paramount Chief of Asante Asokore has expressed his displeasure on the gruesome murder of a 10-year-old Ishmael Mensah for money rituals.

Nana Susubribri Krobea in an interview with JoyNews opined that the act of killing for spiritual fortunes has infiltrated our society leaving a dire effect on citizens.

Describing the act as 'barbaric', he insisted that the heinous crime should not be condoned.

"The idea of wanting to get money by killing somebody because they need body parts, it is atrocious, it is barbaric and it should be condemned."

The two suspects Felix Nyarko and Nicholas Kiki believed to be 16 and 18 years respectively, told the police after their arrest that the spiritualist demanded a human being as well as ¢5,000 in exchange for riches.

In their bid to meet her demand, the duo admitted to the police that they killed Ishmael Mensah Abdallah, a family friend of the first accused, Felix.

Per the police charge sheet, they lured him from his home to a nearby uncompleted building where the second accused, Kini, hit the back of his neck with the wooden handle of pickaxe and Felix hitting him with a cement block.

Surprised with the age of the suspects, the astute lawyer, said, "it is actually horrifying that a crime of that sort could have been committed by people of such tender age.

He further insisted that the discussion on money rituals should move from morality and rather focus on superstition and its negative impact on society.

In his view, superstition plays a major role in the growing phenomenon in our society.

"We have to look at the whole phenomenon of superstition. First of all, the craving for money is bad but the idea that you can get money by invoking some spiritual powers which demands for body parts, or murder and body that is horrifying," he stated.    

Growing up as a young man, he said, "I went to school during the second world war in the early 40s, we were meant to believe that once we were educated all these superstitions will die but it seems to be that the intensification of these superstitions keeps growing as we go around. I don’t see progress there at all. This superstition is excessive"

S. K. B Asante noted that some of our traditional values are fueled by these superstitions therefore the need to educate and change the mindset of individuals.

Adding that if individuals grow with such a mindset "we will always be behind, no other country believes in this nonsense and we talk of development we cant develop."