Gideon Kojo Asomani Addo, a twenty-six-year-old man initially arrested for iron rod theft at Koforidua-Kyekyewere near Nyamekrom in Eastern Region, has confessed to the killing and burial of his mother, Mercy Oforiwaa.
The retired staff of Roads and Highway Authority was declared missing on June 17, 2023, prompting the family to report her disappearance to the police and make several radio announcements.
The suspicion of iron rod theft by a nearby neighbour ultimately led to Gideon Kojo Asomani’s arrest.
During police interrogation, he shockingly admitted to killing his mother and burying her in an uncompleted building.
On Wednesday, December 6, 2023, the police, accompanied by the suspect, visited the crime scene to verify the alleged burial site for subsequent exhumation of the deceased mother’s remains to aid in the ongoing investigation.
Sister of the suspect, narrated to the media that their mother was suffering from dementia so they were hoping to find her in a few days when she went missing but after seven months all hope was lost.
“She has dementia so we were praying and hoping she would return home. We have done posters searching for her whereabouts, reported to police, and went on radio stations to make announcements. We have searched for her all over the region but to no avail,” she narrated.
She continued: “However in recent times, I suspected my brother because of his strange behaviours but he looked too innocent until I noticed he had taken an uninstalled toilet seat from the house. When I asked, he said a man whose house is nearby asked him to bring them to his house for safekeeping but when I called the man he denied it.
It rather deepened his suspicion that my brother was the one who had been stealing his iron rods. Suspicion also grew that he might have killed our mother. Because he kept telling lies including the fact that he claimed thieves broke into our house to steal household items. So the man reported to the police and he was arrested. Then he confessed to killing our mother and buried her.”
The suspect is currently in police custody assisting the investigation.