Police have arrested the chief of Sumpini-Damongo in the Savannah Region, Haruna Jebuni, together with four others for attacking a woman in her house with cutlasses and sticks, accusing her of being a witch.
A police statement named the four other suspects as Atta Alhassan, Shaibu Iddrisu, Salugu Isahaku (alias Orulanaa) and Zakaria Abdul Karim.
Face court
The statement said: “Today, 30th August 2020: police in the Savannah Region have arrested, from Sumpini-Damongo, suspects Zakaria Abdul Karim, 30 years, Shaibu Iddrisu, 35years, Atta Alhassan, 57 years, Salugu Isahaku alias Orulanaa, aged 45 years, and Haruna Jebuni, 58 years, who is also the chief of the village, for attacking a woman (name withheld) in her house, with cutlasses and sticks on suspicion of her being a witch.”
The police statement said the victim has been assisted to seek health care while the suspects are in custody, awaiting arraignment for court.
The police reminded the public that anyone who takes the law into his or her own hands will be arrested and dealt with according to the law.
All five suspects are expected to be arraigned before court in the next few days.
Lynching
The arrest comes barely two months after the arrest of a group of suspects on charges of beating a 90-year-old woman to death in Kafaba, in the Gonja East District of the Northern Region.
Akua Denteh was accused of witchcraft by a soothsayer. The suspicions of local people led to her lynching by members of the community.
Fred Dzakpata
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