V/R: Seven arrested for ritual murder of 12-year-old boy.

Police in the Volta region have arrested seven persons in connection with the abduction and subsequent murder of a 12-year old boy, Cornelius Negle at Nornyikpo, a village near Ziope in the Agotime-Ziope district of the Volta region.

The suspects, Senanu Ashitor Attipoe, 28, Hunor Kofi, aged 30, Anani Koko, 23, Kwamevi Kagbetor, aged 37, Louis Etsey, 25, Kudzo Akpatsu, 49 and Sandema Fianyor, 49 were arrested at separate hideouts and on different days.

They have been remanded into police custody by the Kpetoe District Magistrate Court to re-appear on Monday, 5 July 2021 while investigations continue.

Background

Cornelius Eboe Negble, 12, was kidnapped from his hometown at Nornyikpo, near Ziope, during a funeral on Thursday, May 20, and taken to a shrine at Ndogokope in the Ketu North Municipality of the Volta Region where he was slaughtered for money-making rituals.

The failure of the boy to return home after the funeral aroused the suspicion of his grandmother, other family members as well as residents of the community.

The residents suspected that Atsikpo played a role in the mysterious disappearance of the boy as such, dragged him to the palace of the chief, Togbi Dzisah IV, who ordered the people to hand the suspect over to the police at Ziope.

In his statement at the police station, Atsikpo named Anani, Moris, the fetish priest and his brother as persons who masterminded the killing.