Crime & Punishment of Tuesday, 22 July 2008

Source: GNA

Eighteen-year-old girl commits suicide

Babianeha (B/A), July 22, GNA - An 18-year-old Senior High School dropout, Akua Rose, was at the weekend found hanging inside a corn mill structure at Babianeha in the Jaman South District.

A close relative of the deceased who declined to mention his name told the Ghana News Agency that the family suspected foul play. He said a day before the incident a quarrel ensued between the deceased and Nana Yaa Saa, queen mother of the town and her three children.

The relative said the queen mother and her children accused the deceased of being a harlot and that she had prepared a meal for Nana Yaa Saa's son "to win him and his money", an accusation the deceased refuted.

"Being provoked beyond her limit, the deceased invoked curses on the queen mother and her children in the name of the three shrines in the area", the relative said.

He said both the queen mother and the deceased's mother intervened for the curses to be revoked but Nana Yaa Saa and her children felt peeved "because the deceased used filthy and abusive language against them".

"In the process of revoking the curse, another fight ensued between them during which the queen mother beat up the deceased mercilessly and warned her to be wary of an impending calamity", the relative said. The police have arrested but granted police enquiry bail to the queen mother and her three children.