The corpse of an 18-months-old baby boy illegally buried at a home in the Patriko community at Abokobi in the Greater Accra region has gotten residents troubled.

Apart from the health implications of the burial, the residents are concerned, not just about how the death occurred, but about the activities of a pastor [name withheld] who is said to have buried the corpse.

Neighbours who alerted the police about the suspicious activity in the pastor's house believe the boy may have been killed as part of a religious sacrifice.

They told Joy News’ Emefa Nancy Dzradosi that they are disappointed with how the police have dealt with the issue so far.

“Where they buried the boy is wrong and I was thinking the police will come over and remove the body for an autopsy,” one resident said.

But the Adenta Divisional Crime Officer, DSP Stephen Akowuah told Joy News’ Evans Mensah on Newsnight Tuesday that two suspects -- father of the deceased and his friend -- have been picked up.

He said the accomplice was also at the village where the child died and helped in transporting the deceased to Abokobi for burial.

According to him, the two have confirmed burying the body on August 24.

Regarding what killed the baby, DSP Akowuah said, “the deceased was with the parents at Odumasi Bekwai in the Ashanti region. Per their religion, they are not supposed to go to a hospital, take medicine or an injection when they are sick.

“In the night, the child fell sick and was not sent to the hospital so he died in the morning and instead of sending the body to the hospital to be deposited at the morgue for the necessary investigations they did not do so.”

He said they decided to transport the body to Abokobi where they initially lived before moving to the village for burial.  

“That was where the so-called pastor was also involved…we can’t say whether the child was killed or not because the deceased’s mother confirmed he was with them until the morning he passed and narrated how he died,” DSP Akowuah said.

According to him, once the body was not sent to the hospital for a postmortem to be carried out, it amounts to an offence for which reason the two suspects are being held in police custody.

“We are going to seek for a court order to exhume the body and carry out a postmortem,” he said.