The body of Kofi Atta Kwakye, who was unable to meet the demands of the family of his late wife, was found five days after he had gone missing.
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Man Commits Suicide When Life Pressures Mount On Him
A 63-year-old man, whose body was found hanging in an uncompleted building, is suspected to have committed suicide, following demands by his dead wife’s family for him to perform the customary marriage rites for her, though she was deceased.
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Kwakye had also been told about the death of his mother a few days before he committed suicide, while his landlord had also threatened to eject him due to his inability to pay his rent.
Since the death of 60-year-old Mary Breman Boateng, Kwakye’s wife, her family has been demanding GH¢1,000 as compensation from Kwakye for failing to perform the rites as demanded by custom.
As a result of Kwakye’s inability to pay the money, his wife’s body has been at the Assin Fosu Hospital morgue in the Central Region since October 2014.
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Boateng was found dead at about 2pm on October 26, 2014 in a single room at Olebu in Accra where she lived with her husband.
They had been married for more than 30 years but Boateng’s family members became angry after her death because Kwakye did not even know his wife’s hometown.
The Odorkor District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr Abraham Acquaye, said a young man who lived close to the uncompleted building found the body of Kwakye on January 18, 2014 and raised an alarm.
The body, he said, was in a decomposed state.
Kwakye wore a pair of trousers and his neck was tied with an electrical wire to iron rods in the second floor of the uncompleted storey building.
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Mr Acquaye said police investigations established that Kwakye had been told about the death of his mother a few days before he committed suicide.
His landlord had also threatened to eject him due to his inability to pay his rent.
Mr Acquaye said Kwakye had three children with his wife and until his death, he lived with two of them.
Kwakye’s youngest daughter, Naomi Obeniwaa Kwakye, told the police that her father told her to go to bed on the night he went missing.
After four days when he had not returned, the daughter reported to the police that her father was missing and on the fifth day, his lifeless body was found in the uncompleted building.
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The body has since been deposited at the Police Hospital morgue in Accra.
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