Further details have emerged concerning the five family members who were found dead in what residents believe to be an acid attack at Yawkyeremah near Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital.

A mechanic friend [name withheld] of one of the deceased family members – Janet Asare – who spoke to DAILY GUIDE, said that she (Janet) two months ago came to report to him that her concubine, Kwasi Asare, had been assaulting her and so she asked for divorce but the man threatened to kill her if she left him.

According to the source, the two had been going through some financial crisis after the man’s return from Germany three months ago empty-handed. Due to that the lady took a loan to buy a taxi for the man to work with, but he later allegedly conspired with the taxi driver to collect the documents of the vehicle from Janet Asare and sell it without her knowledge. As Kwasi Asare was on her neck demanding the documents, he [mechanic] said he advised Janet not to give them to him.

“I asked her several times why her man had returned from Germany empty-handed and went to stay in Accra for three months, but she asked me to drop the topic each time I raised it. He kept on bothering her with money issues, and so the lady was the one who supported the family with finances which accrued from the sale of her second-hand cloths,” the mechanic underscored.

He disclosed that he once saw Janet with a sore in her eye, which she claimed it was the result of an assault by the man who claimed he had seen her conversing with a banker on her telephone – the one who facilitated her loan contract.

“The man had assaulted Emmanuella Asare – one of the children – because he said she was not his biological daughter. Janet reported the matter to me, and so I advised the man not to do that,” DAILY GUIDE source intimated.

The mechanic added that Kwasi Asare later confronted some male customers who came to buy from Janet and accused her of having affairs with them. The matter, according to our source, was sent to the late Janet’s pastor and their landlord, Edward Kofi Owusu, for settlement.

What Happened

On a visit to the abode of the deceased family members Friday, DAILY GUIDE discovered that all their belongings – about thirty bags, clothes, mattress, wardrobe, ceiling fan, books among other things – had gotten burnt. There were also some blood stains in the bathroom and two sets of gloves, which residents believe the man used to cover his hands before spraying the acid on the woman and her children.

Sources said that Kwasi allegedly locked the two main doors and stabbed Jane; then poured the acid on her and two boys. A tenant said he (Kwasi) also purportedly took the daughter to the bathroom and hit her head against the wall. The tenant (who declined to mention his name) said he heard Emmanuella screaming and later heard the shower tap flowing but he thought she (Emmaneulla) was sick and that was why she was being showered.

The police were reported to have used a pinch bar to break the doors before entering the room of the deceased self-contained apartment, and discovered that Janet Asare, 40, and the two boys – Edmund, 13 and Ohene, 7 – were lying on the floor dead, while Kwasi Asare and Emmauella were lying in the bathroom motionless.

The man was reported to have poured the acid onto the woman and the children and then sprayed the window blinds with the substance before going to the bathroom to commit suicide.

The police picked a melted gallon which contained patrol in the bedroom.

Carlos Kwasi Asare and Janet who had planned to get married two months away, reportedly had a quarrel Tuesday night and he decided to travel to Kumasi that very night but the woman restrained him after some co-tenants had seemingly brokered peace between them.

Landlord’s Narration

When DAILY GUIDE contacted the landlord, Mr. Edward Kofi Owusu, he said on that fateful Tuesday, before the incident, the wife was cooking when he (landlord) saw Kwasi Asare with the taxi driver returning from town to the house. “Kwasi and the taxi driver then left for town, came back again and later went away. I entered my room to sleep,” Mr Owusu said.

“I was about to leave for my shop on Wednesday morning at 8 am, when my wife approached me and said a friend had reported to her that someone had cut off the curtains in the window of the tenants’ room. My wife went to see for herself; she later came to report to me that Janet and the two boys were lying on the floor motionless so I immediately went to the police station to report the matter. Before I returned with a police officer, my house was already full with people who had heard about what had happened.

The landlord posited that Kwasi Asare was a very quiet person but that he used to beat up children of co-tenants whenever they touched the taxi.

According to the landlord, Janet came to him without her concubine and rented the apartment in August last year, and that with the payment of more rent advance, she has another six months, which would expire in 2016. Mr Owusu said it was sometime in June this year that Janet came to introduce her man to him.

School

DAILY GUIDE learnt that Emmanuella, 17, was a Form 3 student of Nana Kwaku Boateng JHS at Effiduase, while Edmond and Ohene Asare attended Free-Hands Preparatory School at Asokore.

Classmates of Emmanuella, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE, expressed shock over the tragic incident. They said her last appearance in school was last Tuesday when she wrote the mock examination.

Police

Meanwhile, the Eastern Regional Police have deposited the bodies at the Accra Police Hospital awaiting autopsy. They had also taken the liquid suspected to be acid, for forensic examination.

They had begun investigations into the incident and claimed they had gathered some relevant information, but appealed to the public to feed them with more.