A jilted unemployed man is currently languishing in the cells of the Tema Community 11 Police Station for attempting to poison his ex-lover.

Kwaku Ansah, a resident of Tema Community 11, poured a quantity of acid into a cup of tea his ex-wife had prepared for breakfast.

According to the police, Ansah’s ex-wife lodged a complaint that Kwaku, who had earlier threatened that he was going to show her where power lay, tried to kill her by pouring acid into her cup of tea.

The Community 11 police station crime officer, Belinda Banini, said Kwaku’s ex-wife rushed to her office with what she said was the remaining poison-laced cup of tea and made a complaint against Ansah, with whom she has a daughter.

She said some officers were detailed to go and arrest the suspect from his residence.

“He resisted arrest when my people got to his house and even tore the shirt of one of my men, all in an attempt to avoid arrest,” she said.

The suspect, on seeing the police, tried gulping some liquid chemical in a plastic container, believed to be acid, but was stopped by one of the policemen who hit the plastic container away; a situation which made the suspect sustain some burns around his lips.

“He was subsequently overpowered, arrested and brought to this station and has since been detained. After investigation, he will be arraigned before a law court on the charge of attempted murder,” the crime officer told Daily Guide.

Ansah’s ex-wife, whose name has been withheld for ethical reasons, told Daily Guide that she was yet to come to terms with the whole incident.

“He had always said that he would one day do something that would shock a lot of people and kept saying that I would soon find out what he meant by that,” the ex-wife said.

She noted that the quarrelsome nature of Kwaku was the reason she left him, adding that she moved out of the house owned by Ansah’s sister to live in a rented room with their daughter.

“My sister-in-law called sometime ago and asked that I come to live in her house since she was travelling and would be away for a while. My sister in-law is very much aware of my decision to leave my husband. She only asked that I move in with my daughter so as to take care of her place until she returned,” she remarked.

She said her ex-husband also lived in the same house but in the part where she used to live with him and their daughter before the separation.

According to her, Ansah, after failing to win her back, resorted to a verbal assault on her on a daily basis.

“On November 22, 2011, on the morning, I had prepared breakfast of tea and bread for my daughter in the kitchen before sending her to school. On my arrival, I saw my ex-husband in the kitchen near where my tea was and when I questioned him as to what he was doing there, he said he was looking for salt and left almost immediately,” the woman said.

She reportedly spat out the tea when she tried drinking it due to a burning sensation she experienced on her tongue, compelling her to confront him immediately.

Ansah denied knowing who might have tampered with the tea and requested to taste it himself.

He was reported to have tried pouring away the tea in a sink but was stopped by his ex-wife who grabbed the rest and rushed to the Community 11 Police Station.

Asked if she was sure Ansah had intended to kill her, she answered in the affirmative.

The suspect however denied the allegation levelled against him and said the acid was meant for his friend, a mechanic, and not as his ex-wife alleged.

“How could I try to kill the same woman who I have been begging to come back to me? I have rather contemplated on suicide on a few occasions and had to stop later because I realized that it is not the best option,” he said.

Ansah also denied trying to swallow the acid on seeing the police and added that he tried opening the acid container with his mouth.

“I was trying to force open the container with my mouth after failing to do it with my hands. Some of it poured out and that is why I got these burns around my mouth,” he noted.