Farmer Kills Mother-In-Law

Kofi Bidagbanin, a farmer at Sibi, a village near Nkwanta, in the Volta Region, shot and killed his mother-in-law because he suspected her of stealing yams from his farm, a Ho High Court has heard.

The accused, 32, made another appearance before the court on Monday.

He was first arraigned before it on April 20, this year, charged with murder.

Senior State Attorney, Mr. Simon Adatsi, had told the court, presided over by Mr. Justice N.C.A. Agbevor, at an earlier hearing that the incident took place on 25th September, 2009 at about 7:15 pm at Sibi.

According to him, the accused used a single barrel gun to carry out his motive.

A seven-member jury heard that Bidagbanin laid ambush behind the house of the deceased, Niyagnam Soujun, 68, and while there, he was spotted by the son of the woman.

According to the prosecution, the deceased’ son drew his mother’s attention to the presence of someone in the nearby bush, and when the elderly woman came out of her room to find who was hiding there, Bidagbanin immediately opened fire on her, “killing her instantly.”

The Senior State Attorney said that a post-mortem examination carried out on the body of the deceased at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra, found that she died as a result of “massive hemoperitoneum in the abdominal cavity due to a gunshot wound in the lower abdomen.”

The prosecution said the accused admitted the offence in his caution statement to the police.

Bidagbanin who is in prison custody, will appear before the court again on July 13.

Source: Ghanaian Times.