The husband of a 27-year-old woman who connived with her lover to murder him at Pameng in the Atiwa West District of the Eastern Region says he has long forgiven his wife.

According to 55-year-old Cudjoe Gator, they have lived happily since 2007 until the wife’s lover came into the picture.

Narrating what happened, he said his wife's lover, Issac Asare, 51, was led by some residents to their house while in search of accommodation.

Mr Gator granted the request and offered him shelter in his house for free.

“She has never offended me since we got married. Except for this issue with this tenant, who came here through Maame Ama Nyame. I gave the room to him for free, but I later sent him out when I heard what was going on between him and my wife.”

On Mr Gator’s blind side, the 51-year-old former Third Division football coach had begun an amorous relationship with his wife, Mavis Brepor, 27.

The tenant allegedly hatched a plan to eliminate Mr Gator, first through food poisoning with Mavis as the executioner.

After the plot failed, a neighbour later hinted Mr Gator of a suspected relationship between his wife and Asare for which his host evicted him.

“Somebody told me he has seen my wife in an intimate posture with Mr Asare. The person said they were sitting close to each other on a bench and that heightened my suspicion. I confronted Adwoa, but she flatly denied it. So I decided not to pursue it further since I didn’t catch them doing anything. After that, I sacked him from my house,” he said.

Police from Manhyia Division subsequently travelled to Parmeng to arrest Mavis, after Asare had been picked up in Kumasi a day earlier in a botched attempt to a recruit hitman to execute Mr Gator.

Now a traumatized Gator says he believes his wife had been influenced by a spiritual force against him and he wants her freed.

“At Zongo police station, Adjoa asked the police officers to apologise to me on her behalf because she has sinned against me. She told me Asare gave her a poisonous substance to put in my food to kill me.  Though she couldn’t do it, she never told me about it. We eat together all the time,” he said.

He added that, “I quizzed her about her failure to tell me about the man’s advances to her, as she had done in other instances. She said she had found it difficult to utter the words from her mouth anytime she felt like telling me.”

“I believe my wife has been under a spell, she has been under the influence of a spell. I want Asare to be jailed. As for my wife, I have forgiven her,” he stressed.

Relatives say Mavis’ arrest and absence is taking a toll on the family. Her 55-year-old mother, Mercy Ayisi also believes her daughter was under the spell of Isaac Asare.

“Ever since my daughter married her husband, she always informed me of any development between them. I suspect my daughter has been under a spell, she couldn’t have done all these without influence of any external force. I plead with the state to forgive her,” she said.

The two suspects were remanded into police custody when they made their maiden appearance before the Asokwa Court.