…Police Ask Affected Family Members to Provide Evidence

GRAVE LOOTERS are on the war path at the Dogbekope and Tackscorner public cemeteries in the Ketu-South District of the Volta Region, sending panic and fear among residents of the two communities. The incident happened between the night of Sunday, March 2 and the morning of Monday, March 3, 2014, in the adjoining townships.

The plunderers have, in a brazen fashion, invaded the two cemeteries within 12 hours, leaving their spoils scattered in various parts of the cemeteries, and so far it has been discovered that five graves that have been looted, and judging by their scheme of operations, there is a possibility that the invaders will continue with their nauseating activities in the coming days, if prompt action is not taken by the Police to avert their operation.

Inhabitants close to the cemeteries are now living in a state of shock, following the looting of the grave of the late Mr. Michael Kwame Amehoe, former Head teacher of the R.C. Basic School of Dogbekope, as well as one other grave in the village, a community which revere the dead so much.

The motive of the looters, according to family members, is difficult to think through, but they suspect ritual purposes as only bones are targeted. The late Mr. Amehoe who died at age 79 on May 19, 2007, and was buried on August 11, 2007 at the St. Theresa’s Roman Catholic Cemetery at Dogbekope, was also the Catechist of the Church and the Unit Committee Chairman for the Nyekornakpoe Electoral area and a member of the Agbozume Local Council. Although the Police at Agbozume have arrested four persons in connection with looting three graves at Tackscorner, the family members of the two affected graves at Dogbekope have been tasked to supply evidence before charges can be pressed against the suspects, though the act happened within the two communities over night, a move the Amehoe family believes is an attempt to conceal evidence relevant for any legal action, and thereby described it as unfortunate and an attempt to deny them justice.

Usually, grave looting involves bodies being relieved of any valuable shrouds and cloths on them. Precious relics such as gold and silver jewellery left on the departed have also proven to be a particularly attractive target, aside ritual purposes, and the rate at which the looting took place over night has left the people of the two communities bewildered and are desperately looking for measures to address the menace. The unpleasant incident has thus thrown the people of the two communities into a state of melancholy and consternation, as they wonder what would happen to graves of their dead whose parts are now being sought after by criminals for reasons best known to them, since the suspects are known to have been in such operations for some time now at Agbozume and its environs. Gilbert Amehoe, Head of the Amehoe family told this reporter that for the people of Dogbekope, news of the incident still beats their imagination as they could not come to terms with the motive behind the act. The family and the entire community are both traumatized and terrified by the barbaric act and have vowed to leave no stone unturned to work with the Police at any level to apprehend the criminals.

According to him, whereas the Police were preparing to visit the crime scene at Dogbekope, they received another distress call that some people had been arrested for breaking into three graves at Tackscorner, a village located within a short walking distance from Dogbekope. He said the Police after visiting the cemetery at Dogbekope headed for the house of Mr. Geoffrey Mileba, formerly of Somê Senior High School, Agbozume, and an uncle to the suspects, who had convinced those who made the arrest to return to his house at Tackscorner to settle the matter. Whilst at his house, the Police arrived and arrested him together with the suspects. According to him, before the Police could get to Mr. Mileba’s house, one Gblonyanadodzi Mileba who was reported to be in possession of a sack suspected to contain human parts absconded with the sack. Mr. Amehoe lamented that even though the Police confirmed the arrest of the suspects and that investigations were on-going because they did not find any exhibit of human parts at the time of arrest, the family members were asked to provide them (Police) with evidence, notwithstanding that fact that the suspects admitted breaking and digging three graves at Tackscorner without proper permit. Interestingly, Gblonyanadodzi Mileba who absconded earlier with a sack, reported later to the Police at Agbozume with a sack containing tools including shovels, pick-axe, chisel, and hammers, but not with human parts and the suspects have thus been granted bail. Mr. Amehoe indicated that the family of the suspects told the Police that they authorized the suspects to exhume the corpse of a relative for reburial at another location due to rampant grave looting in the area but surprisingly, instead of one grave, they broke into two other graves at Tackscorner which resulted in their arrest.

“It therefore sound naive, illogical and deceitful to attempt to dissociate the suspects from the same crime committed at Dogbekope since the two villages are located within walking distance from each other, and more so, the fact that both incidents could be carried out within the same night,” he noted.

He lamented that “Mileba’s intervention which resulted in the return of the suspects (his nephews) and the scouts to his house while scouts were sending them over to the Police smacks of the behavior of either an interested party, an accomplice or a conspirator.”

“Why did Gblonyanadodzi Mileba flee with the sack they were caught with earlier, only to return to the Police later with it? And did the Police receive a statement from those who arrested the suspects?” he queried.

The Head of the Amehoe family mentioned that the position of the Mileba family that they authorized the suspects to exhume a corpse from one location to another seems to be fabricated with the intent to legitimize the grave digging and exhumation at Tackscorner, and to dissociate them from the same crime committed at Dogbekope within the same period.

Mr. Amehoe argued that since the suspects were caught breaking other graves, they must be held responsible for the same crime committed at Dogbekope which occurred within the same night, saying that they are no doubt the prime suspects for the graves broken at Dogbekope.

“Family authorization does not make grave breaking and exhumation legal. The act still remains illegal and criminal for which the suspects must be prosecuted,” he maintained. They have therefore called on the Inspector General of Police to carry out further investigations into this matter to arrest the perpetrators so that the people can sleep without fear of the fate of their dead at their final resting places and to put an end to this act in the District. The Agbozume District Police Commander, ASP K. K. Gadzi confirmed the story but said the case was under investigation, saying that since there was no evidence that the suspects indeed committed the crime, they could not take any legal actions against them for now but will come out at the appropriate time, despite the fact that the suspects admitted breaking into the three graves at Tackscorner, but not those at Dogbekope, an adjoining village.