Richard Appiah
The autopsy of the victims killed by a 28-year-old man and their body parts kept in a refrigerator at Alaska, a suburb of Abesim near Sunyani in the Bono Region, is still not ready.
Richard Appiah, who has since the gruesome murder, which was described as an act of a cannibal, been brought to Accra from Sunyani, appeared at the Kaneshie District Court yesterday for the second time, charged provisionally with two counts of murder.
Chief Inspector Lawrence Anane, appearing before a Kaneshie District Court yesterday presided over by Her Worship Ama Adomako Kwakye told the court that the autopsy of the victims were still not ready for the court’s assessment and asked for an adjournment.
He, however, told the court that the autopsy has been conducted but the police were yet to receive a full report from the medical officer who performed the procedure.
He said once they received the autopsy report, they will conclude their investigations and forward a duplicate docket to Office of the Attorney General for official advice on how to proceed with the case.
Appiah, wearing a red jersey, was brought to court by heavily armed police officers yesterday and remanded until October 5, 2021.
Gruesome Murder
Richard Appiah, believed to be an architect or surveyor and a footballer, was a friend to the victims who have been identified as 15-year-old Stephen Boateng who was in JHS 2, the suspect’s own 12-year-old step-brother Louis Agyemang, and a yet-to-be-identified body believed to be a girl.
He is believed to have been cooking for the victims and showing them some affection, and through that supposed kindness, he was able to lure them and subsequently kill them in turns.
The Abesim ‘cannibal’ is said to be a man who hardly smiles, and per police records, four persons are said to have gone missing in the neighbourhood where he lives.
This has led to a heightened suspicion that he could be behind the strange disappearances.
He is said to have initially denied knowledge of the whereabouts of Louis Agyemang, the boy who went missing.
It was a man who lives in the neighbourhood who insisted that the suspect knew the whereabouts of Louis because he had seen the suspect and the victim together on the day the victim went missing.
It was alleged that, Appiah after the dastardly act, brought out his clothing and set it on fire, probably to delete any evidence of the crime.
Discovered Intestines
The police have discovered the intestines of the victims buried on a cocoa farm.
A police statement indicated that, “The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters team investigating the Abesim murder case has yesterday, Tuesday, August 24, 2021, discovered a place where suspect Richard Appiah buried the intestines of one of the murder victims.”
The statement, signed by ACP Kwesi Ofori, acting Director-General, Public Affairs, explained further how the police also found a sharp cutlass used in the murder, as well as where the body parts were buried.
“The intestines were buried on a cocoa farm at Abesim, which the police have since exhumed for pathological analysis and forensic examination in Accra,” the statement pointed out.
The investigation team has also worked around a septic tank and other places of concern for further examinations, the statement said.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak