Emotions took the better part of a 34-year-old man when he allegedly slaughtered his wife on a farm last Saturday after the woman had threatened to divorce him.

The man, identified as James K. Tawiah, is alleged to have tied the hands of his 42-year-old wife to a tree, covered her face before slashing her throat on a farm at Wassa Mampong in the Mpohor Wassa East District in the Western Region.

After that callous act, Tawiah bolted, but he hit a snag when he was arrested by the police at his hideout at Yamoransah in the Central Region on Tuesday.

The woman, whose name was given as Abena Kwama Boateng, was the mother of five children, including a two-year-old she was nursing before her death.

The suspect is currently in police custody, while the body of his wife has been deposited at the Effia-Nkwantah Regional Hospital.

According to the police, when the deceased’s body was discovered in the bush, it lay supine, with the face covered with a scarf, while the hands were tied to a tree.

The body, stained with blood, was almost covered with ants.

Speaking to graphic.com.gh, the Sekondi District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Mr Cephas Bediako, said the suspect, who hails from Edumfa in the Central Region, moved to Wassa Mampong after he had landed a job with the Disease Control Unit of the COCOBOD in the Mpohor Wassa District.

He said before the suspect got married to the deceased, he had a wife at Edumfa, but on relocating to Wassa Mampong, he married Abena, who already had four children from her previous marriage.

Later, the two had one child, bringing Abena’s children to five.

Chief Supt Bediako said police investigations had revealed that last Friday, the woman told her husband that she was no longer interested in the marriage.

The commander said to back her words with action, she travelled to her husband’s home town to inform his family that she was no longer interested in the marriage.

He said on Saturday, she returned to Wassa Mampong and about 12 p.m. on that same day she was said to have carried some seedlings for planting on her farm.

Chief Supt Bediako said the woman did not return home and the elders of the town, therefore, organised a search party to the farm, where it was discovered that she had been murdered.

He said after the act, Tawiah returned to the village and told his in-law that he was moving out of the town and would not return.

The police said after he was arrested at his hide out, the suspect had on him a suicide note comprising the direction to his home town, his father’s name and his sister’s telephone number.

He said the police were very fortunate to get him before he took his life, adding that on his arrest, the suspect broke down and wept bitterly when pictures of his dastardly act were shown to him.

Tawiah, according to the police commander, would be processed for court for him to be remanded into police custody while investigations continued.**