The Sunyani Diocese of the Anglican has called on the public to ensure that their contributions and comments on the recent Abesim murder case remain factual and based on evidence.

“Failing this our honest intentions may lead to untrue and counter-productive consequences which may unduly affect the very commendable efforts of the security agencies investigating the matter,” the Diocese has said in press release.

The release, jointly signed by Sunyani Diocesan and Synod Secretary, Venerable Martin A. Amankwah, and Dean, St Anselm Cathedral, Very Reverend Timothy Kankam Dwumfour, stated that the church has been praying for the unravelling of the gruesome murder of the three young people.

According to the diocese, the release which was in response to a video making rounds and linking the Anglican church to the murder explained that “the church is unaware of any murders in and around any property it owns in Sunyani and surrounding communities over the years”.

Tragedy hit the farming community in the early hours of Saturday August 21, 2021, when Richard Appiah, a popular footballer, allegedly murdered his 12-year-old relative, with two others, and kept the body in a room.

“The leadership of the Anglican Communion in Sunyani has picked up a sordid and unwarranted orogeny directed at the Anglican Church in Sunyani on social media in the last couple of days by a Journalist going by the name Kwasi Annan”, the statement said.

It further explained that “there is no Anglican church or building owned by the church in Abesim. The church headquarters - St Anselm’s Cathedral is situated in a well-developed environment with no deliberate cultivated bushes around it”.

The statement stressed that the damnable inaccuracies without any hint of evidence in the emotionally charged presentation on TV by the said Journalist alone discredits his efforts.

“Therefore, leadership of the church considers it the height of a wicked and irresponsible calumny for the said Journalist to put forth in such aggressive manner that the church has deliberately left the thick bush behind their temple, ostensibly to encourage crime to wit ritual murder.

“There is no place in Sunyani called Apenkwaase where the Anglican Church has thick bushes close to its structure and the said intelligence alleged to have been gathered is to say the least egregious,” it further pointed out.

The statement clarified that the Anglican Church in the Bono region and elsewhere welcomes any investigations by the police as suggested in the said video, saying the church was ready to cooperate in any investigation.