In commemoration of a week since their relative was brutally murdered at Kasoa, the family of the slain soldier, Lance Cpl Michael Danso, has returned to the very spot at which he was shot multiple times in a car, to perform a cleansing ritual.
As is the tradition, the family performed some rituals and poured libation at the spot of the killing so as to allow for the “spirit of their son to return home” a contact close to the family told GhanaWeb.
In videos of the exercise shared with GhanaWeb as well, it showed some traditional leaders with members of the slain soldier’s family pouring libation and speaking some incantations.
The late soldier, who was caught in the crossfire of a land dispute at Kasoa Millennium City, was brutally shot multiple times around a police station.
The late L/Cpl Michael Danso was killed on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in an unprovoked attack after he had accompanied a colleague, Cpl Omar Abdul-Rahman, to his half plot land at Kasoa where it had been reported to them that somebody was working on the land.
The main suspect in the case now, Benlord Ababio, who is said to have been the one named for this, was later reported to the police but it was at the police station that the late soldier, Danso, was attacked.
Benlord Ababio, according to both the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service, shot Lance Corporal Danso during an altercation over disputed land at Millennium City, a suburb of Kasoa, in the Central Region.
A statement by the Ghana Armed Forces indicated that the disputed land was a "half plot of land in dispute at Millennium City," which belonged to Lance Corporal Omar Abdul Rahman (one of the survivors of the attack).
Lance Corporal Omar Abdul Rahman had gone to secure his land with two other colleagues; Lance Corporal Danso Michael (deceased) and Lance Corporal Ametus Matthew, who also survived.
"Omar and his colleagues stopped the people from working and proceeded to the Millennium City Police Station to report the issue," the statement noted.
This contradicts reports that they were resisted by the new developers, after which they proceeded to the police station.
"While at the Police Station, the acclaimed owner of the land arrived with two others believed to be land guards, and confronted the soldiers, during which they started firing at the deceased soldier who was going to park a vehicle at the Police Station.
"The police disarmed and arrested the shooter after realizing Lance Corporal Danso had been hit by the rounds fired," the statement added.
The GAF added that the deceased soldier's body was retrieved from the vehicle and "has since been deposited at the 37 Military Hospital morgue."
Watch the video of cleansing rituals below:
AE