Police discover human bones, Skull Idol at power 1 shrine

The two fetish priests, who have been arrested for murder, had in their possession an idol-looking sculpture fitted with human skulls, which they allegedly used for their rituals.

A special police team raided the shrine last Thursday and retrieved an assortment of tell-tale exhibits.

Apart from the skull idol, the police discovered incriminating exhibits like human bones, human hairs, beads in shallow graves at the suspects’ shrine called ‘Power 1 Herbal & Spiritual Centre’ located at Adu Kwadwo and Kofi Nyarko villages, near Maame Dede Junction on the Nsawam to Adeiso road in the Upper West Akyem District of the Eastern Region.

Weapons at Shrine

The police also retrieved two pump action guns, a single barrel gun together with 11 packets full of cartridges.

The weapons were found in the room of Christian Lawoe Gameli, aka Power-One, 36, who together with his accomplice, Famous Adukonu, aka Scorpion, 37, both from Afife in the Volta Region, are currently in the cooler.

Confession

According to COP Ken Yeboah, Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, both fetish priests confessed to killing two people and burying them at the shrine.

During a news conference on Monday, the CID boss said the police uncovered graves that contained the remains of Edward Quartey Papafio, a biochemical consultant and Kwashie Zormelo, a mason.

He said as they were excavating the shrine, they discovered several human bones and some skulls hidden under two of their idols.

He said that on April 30, the police, including a pathologist, personnel of the crime scene management unit, forensic science laboratory, drone and CID operation unit went to Maame Dede and executed the exhumation order granted by the court.

“On arrival, both suspects led the police to the scene behind the house, which had been walled with a small entry but no exit, where the two identified the graves.

“The pathologist retrieved a decomposed body from the grave and a second decomposed body, whose name Power gave as Kwashie Zormelo from Kasoa, was also retrieved from another grave,” he added.

The Director General of CID also revealed that the team later exhumed human parts, hairs, attachments, beads suspected to be that of a woman and other bones from a third grave all within the same perimeter.

“A decomposed human flesh with bones wrapped in a cloth buried among the bodies was also retrieved from the yard,” he said, adding that “my team also retrieved human skull together with bones suspected to be that of humans hidden under two idols in the house.”

Blood Gallon

He mentioned that a gallon “the suspects later confessed contained the blood of Edward Quartey Papafio and Kwashie Zormelo” was also found hidden in the shrine.”

Murdering Biochemist

According to the CID boss, investigations have established that on December 2019, the two suspects conspired to kill Mr. Papafio, adding, “The suspects, therefore, lured the victim to the shrine and succeeded in collecting about GH¢10,000 from him under the pretext that they were going to fortify him spiritually to enable his company to flourish.”

Phone Invitation

“On January 15, 2020 the suspect invited the biochemist on phone to come for the last purification rites and in the process shot and killed him.

“Suspect Power, after committing the crime took possession of the deceased’s Itel and Nokia mobile phones which he kept with Charity Dakudzi, his third wife at Mensah Ba, Oyibi,” he narrated.

“He later led police to the said house where the deceased’s two mobile phones were retrieved together with his bunch of keys,” he said, adding, “Suspect Scorpion, on the other hand, said that he shot and killed Papafio on that fateful day with a pump action gun belonging to his accomplice.”

Victim’s Cash

COP Yeboah said the suspects also admitted to collecting all monies on Papafio before killing him.

“Further investigations established that suspect Christian Gameli murdered Kwashie Zormelo, a Togolese but resident at Kasoa and one of his masons sometime February 2020, when the victim demanded money the suspect owed him.”

The decomposed bodies, human remains and bones have been deposited at the Police Hospital mortuary, awaiting post-mortem and anthropological and DNA examination.