A 57- year-old teacher of the Akyem Asene Presbyterian Primary School, near Oda, Madam Agnes Tetteh Odjidja, escaped death by a hair's breadth when seven people attempted to murder her, ostensibly for ritual purposes, in a commercial Urvan bus on which she was travelling last week. Narrating her pathetic story to the Daily Graphic at Asene last Sunday, Madam Odjidja said around 5 p.m. on January 9, this year, her husband saw her off to the outskirts of Asene, where they lived, to board a bus to Akyem Akroso to continue her journey to her home town, Odumase-Krobo. She said four men were seated at the back of the bus, while three others, including the driver and another woman, were seated on the front seat, all of them wearing black clothes. According to her, when a number of people at Asene and Batabi who were travelling to Accra stopped the vehicle, the driver refused to pick them, even though he claimed to be heading towards Accra. She said on reaching the Church of Prosperity premises near Batabi, the driver stopped, with the excuse that he was contacting his director, and within a matter of three minutes, the said director emerged and followed the vehicle with a red private saloon car. She said one of the occupants of the vehicle told his colleagues to start the operation and dump the dead body near the big tree at Aprokumase, but they replied that their instruments were with their officer at Akyem Asuboa South. Madam Odjidja, who claimed to be traumatised at that point, decided to jump off the vehicle to save her life when she saw something like blood in a plastic container, but the others shut all the windows of the bus, with the excuse that they were feeling cold. She said when she suspected that the liquid in the container was blood, one of the occupants asked her if some had poured on her, adding "It is just palm oil." Madam Odjidja, who sensed that her life was in danger, said when the driver stopped at the outskirts of Asuboa to pick up the said officer with the instruments, she quickly jumped down and started screaming for help. She said her screams attracted some travellers standing by the roadside who rushed to her rescue. But before they could reach the scene, the driver of the Urvan bus had sped off. She said before the rescuers reached the scene, the men in the bus had brutally assaulted her with their hands and feet, "shouting at the top of their voices, 'you are a fool; you have made us lose our daily bread"'. According to her, the criminals went away with her luggage, including provisions she had bought for her sick father she was visiting at Odumase-Krobo. She said despite her ordeal, she continued her journey to Odumase to visit her father after narrating the whole incident to her husband on phone. Madam Odjidja stated that she had since received medical treatment at the Oda Government Hospital. When the Oda Municipal Police Commander, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Victor Amaning Kwarteng, was contacted on the issue, he said even though the victim had not lodged any complaint with the police, his outfit would investigate the matter. In another development, a Primary Six pupil of the Joduro Integrated School at Akyem Oda, Master Clinton Ampomah Boahen, was allegedly kidnapped by four men in a taxi and tethered to a tree in a bush near Agona Swedru in the Central Region last Tuesday. According to the Director of the school, Mr Joe Oduro-Dokyi, around 6.30 a.m. on January 12, this year, Boahen and his brother were waiting to board the school bus to school when four men called and told him that his father, a professional driver, had sent them to pick him up at the Oda Lorry Park. He said instead of sending Boahen to his father, the suspected murderers drove him into the bush near Agona Swedru and tethered him to a tree until the following day when they were to murder him. Mr Oduro-Dokyi said the criminals collected the lunch Boahen's mother had prepared for him which was in his schoolbag and ate it. He said luckily for the schoolboy, a farmer came across him rescued him and asked him why he was at the place. The director said after narrating his ordeal to the farmer, the farmer sent Boahen to Swedru and got him a vehicle to return to his parents in Oda. When ASP Kwarteng was contacted on the issue, he confirmed it and said his outfit was investigating the case. Meanwhile, fear has gripped the municipality as farmers refuse to go to the farm alone unless they are in groups. The development has also affected school attendance. The chiefs in the municipality have, therefore, appealed to the Oda Divisional Police Command to intensify their patrols in the area to apprehend th13e criminals to enable the people to go about their normal activities without fear. Source: Daily Graphic