Tuesday, February 3, 2009

CHIEF SHOT DEAD ...By 19-year-old son (LEAD STORY)

A TRIVIA of a family feud which began with accusations of gambling and counter accusations of parental irresponsibility degenerated into horror when the Chief of Kunka, near Obuasi, was gunned down by his 19-year-old son last Sunday night.
In the course of the ugly turn of events, Stephen Oppong, a second-year junior high school (JHS) student of the Salvation Army School in Obuasi, sneaked into the room of his 64-year-old father, took his gun and shot him at close range.
Nana Oppong Kyekyeku, the chief, died on the spot.
Neighbours said the killing of the chief followed a brief quarrel that had ensued when the chief objected to Stephen wearing his younger brother’s shirt.
During the quarrel, Stephen was said to have accused the chief of neglecting his parental responsibilities towards him.
The Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in charge of the Obuasi District Police, Mr Matthew Asante, said after the bloody incident, the suspect escaped with the double-barrelled gun belonging to his father but he was arrested yesterday morning.
ASP Asante told the Daily Graphic that the gun had been retrieved, while the body of the deceased had been deposited at the morgue of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi for autopsy.
Stephen is one of the three children the chief had with his deceased wife.
The chief, a retired employee of AngloGold Ashanti, lived in his own house at Kunka, also known as Dunkwa Junction, where Stephen was said to have had a quarrel with him because the chief objected to Stephen wearing a shirt belonging to his (Stephen’s) younger brother.
The district commander quoted neighbours as saying that the chief had persistently accused his son of gambling and joining bad company, a development which created bad blood between them.
In the course of the quarrel, neighbours were quoted as saying that Stephen had invoked the Ashanti deity, Antoa Nyamaa, to curse his father.
The district commander said Nana Kyekyeku had rubbished the curse, claiming that he had not done anything wrong against the suspect to fear being harmed.
Stephen then sneaked into his father’s room, picked his (father’s) gun and loaded it.
ASP Asante said the suspect then went out of the room and aimed the gun at his father, who was then sitting in front of his room.
Before the chief could ask his son not to kill him, the boy opened fire, killing his father at close range.
The chief died instantly, while Stephen fled into a teak plantation at the outskirts of Obuasi where he hid in the night until he was arrested yesterday morning.

No comments: