A suspect arrested in connection with the brutal killing of a young woman at Bentum in the Awutu Senya West District has confessed that he was driven by an uncontrollable urge to commit the act.
The suspect, identified as Horlali Alatusa, a spiritualist believed to be in his early 20s, was apprehended after residents reported a foul smell coming from a nearby farmland.
In a video circulating on X, Alatusa admitted that the victim, known as Akua, had done nothing to provoke the attack.
“She didn’t commit any wrongdoing for me to kill her. I will be a liar to say she did me wrong. She was my client who got healed from her sickness through me. I don’t know what pushed me to do such a thing,” he said.
Alatusa claimed that the urge began after handling human skeletal remains brought by his brother for ritual purposes.
“I don’t know if it was the spare parts my brother brought, which I touched, that made me do such a thing. He brought human skeletal remains for me to use for rituals. Since then, I’ve always had the urge to behead someone, even my family members,” he alleged.
He said the compulsion returned when Akua visited him on the day of the incident.
“So, the fateful day the lady came to visit me, I got the urge again to kill her. I lured her to the farm under the guise of harvesting herbs. I picked up a machete and beheaded her in one strike while on our way to the farm,” he confessed.
Alatusa insisted he acted alone and attributed his actions to the uncontrollable urge.
“I acted alone, and every spiritual person will believe what I’m saying. Even if we call the dead spirit of the lady I killed, she will also corroborate what I’m saying, that I got an urge to kill her,” he stated.
He further admitted to dismembering the victim’s body after the killing.
“I cut off her legs after beheading her because I got scared. I buried her legs at my house, but for her head, I wrapped it in a sack and traveled to my hometown, Mafi-Avedo, in the Volta Region,” he said.
The suspect later informed his grandfather, who reportedly buried the head in a cemetery.
Despite the horrific crime, Alatusa acknowledged Akua’s kindness towards him.
“Akua was so good to me. She came to me with a swollen leg, and I healed her. She even took care of me in difficult times,” he said.
The incident has left the community in shock, and police investigations are ongoing.
