A man identified only as Asuo was lynched and set ablaze by an angry mob at Assin Breku in Ghana’s Central Region after he allegedly beheaded a nine-year-old boy in what residents describe as a gruesome ritual killing.
According to eyewitness accounts, a local woman reportedly saw a human hand inside a sack carried by the suspect. Alarmed by the discovery, she raised the alarm, drawing scores of residents to the scene. A subsequent search led community members to a nearby path, where the lifeless body of the young boy was found lying in a pool of blood, with his hands severed.
The shocking find enraged residents, who traced the suspect to his residence. There, they reportedly discovered blood-stained bedsheets and a T-shirt, further fueling suspicions of his involvement in the child’s murder. The crowd then descended on him, beating him to death before setting his body on fire.
Police officers later arrived at the scene, but the suspect had already been killed. The body was retrieved and sent to the morgue, while investigations into the incident are ongoing.
Many people applaud the community on social media for swift action for justice which seems to reveal the distrust of the people in Ghana’s judicial system.
Though many in the community justified their actions as an act of outrage over an unspeakable crime, legal experts and human rights advocates have condemned the lynching, stressing that mob justice undermines the rule of law.
“If the suspect indeed committed the act, the anger is understandable,” one resident commented, “but the community should have allowed the law to take its course.”
The police have yet to confirm the motive behind the killing, though some locals suspect it may be connected to ritual practices.
Senior Reporter at AMN News Agency, known for his insightful journalism and in-depth coverage of current events.
