HORROR AT AWOSHIE (FRONT PAGE LEAD)

Story: Mary Mensah

A gruesome murder yesterday of a 31-year old scrap dealer and his 28-year old girlfriend has turned Onyenase in Awoshie, one of the fastest growing suburbs in Accra, into a scene of tragedy and mourning.
Although situated within a notorious neighbourhood and near the densely populated areas of Ablekuma and Anyaa, Onyenase had not been noted for crime and robbery until residents woke up yesterday to a real horror of horrors.
A group of market women were the first to appear at the scene at about 4.00am to find the bodies of the couple, lying 50 metres apart and both riddled by bullets.
The two were said to have been gunned down by assassins who fled the scene immediately after the crime.
The cause of the shooting was not immediately known but police detectives say they suspect rivalry motivated murder or an armed robbery attack.
Residents who gathered at the scene following the alarm raised by the market women said there were no eyewitness to the crime because it happened in front of a school and occupants of a house closeby said although they heard the shots at about 2am none of them came out due to fear.
When they came out at daybreak, they found the dead bodies about 20 metres from a Black Gulf Saloon Car belonging to the man, Awal Usmanu and which neighbours had found the two in the previous night. At the scene they were both lying face down with gunshot wounds at their backs slightly above the hips.
According to the neighbours, the woman, Irene Emefa Agbei, 28, was a trader at the Rawlings Park in Accra. Her wounds indicated that she was shot twice, one shot at the back of her shoulder which came out through one of her breasts and the other slightly above her hips.
They were both shot at the same spot and crime scene investigators indicated that whoever fired the shots must have been a good marksman.
The two were last seen in Irene’s house by a co-tenant, Bismark Agbley at about 12 midnight and locked in an argument during which Irene was heard telling Awal “leave me alone, its late I want to go to bed because I will go to work tomorrow”.
The neighbour said during that time Awal did not yield but dragged her from the house into his car which was parked infront of their gate and they drove off “until word came this morning that they had both been murdered.”
Awal had a wife with two kids aged 12years and four years and his wife is said to be pregnant with their third child while Irene was not married but had a five-year old daughter with one Kennedy living abroad.
According to the neighbours, the two had been in a relationship for the past one and a half years, a situation they said Awal’s wife, Charlotte Morton, had not taken kindly and which had generated several confrontations between the two rivals.
They said the most recent one was last Friday November 2, 2007 when Charlotte stormed Irene’s house and met her with Awal but after a hot exchange of words Awal managed to push Charlotte into his car and drove away promising Irene that he would be back later.
Charlotte was alleged to have threatened Irene during the confrontation after which she packed her things from their matrimonial home and went to live with her parents at Arena.
According to King Hassan Mohammed, a friend of Awal’s who operates an internet cafe on the main Awoshie road, the two came to the place and left but while he was going home after closing his cafe at about 11:30 pm he spotted Awal’s car parked at the spot where it was found this morning.
He said they were relaxed in the car so he only waved at them and went home to sleep.
Irene’s mother, Madam Cecilia Agbenyo collapsed on hearing the news of her daughter’s brutal murder and was rushed to the Korle-Bu teaching hospital where she was admitted.
According to the Accra Regional Crime Officer, Chief Superintendent Boi-Bi-Boi, Awal withdrew ¢19 million from an Accra branch of Ecobank the previous day but the whereabouts of that money was not known. One of the front tyres of the car had also been deflated.
The bodies had been deposited at the Police hospital mortuary awaiting autopsy.