The Assin Fosu District Court has remanded the Chief of Assin Dansame in the Assin North District of the Central Region Nana Twum Barima V, and thirteen (13) others into prison custody, after he ordered for a corpse to be exhumed because the deceased failed to attend communal labour while alive.
The court presided over by his Lordship Samuel Ntim Jnr on Thursday June 29, ordered that the suspects be remanded into prison custody until July 10 which is the next hearing date.
The court decision comes after the police arrested the chief and his assigns for his action which they considered illegal and arraigned him before court.
Residents of Assin Dansame witnessed a rare incident after Nana Twum Barima V, ordered for a corpse of Kofi Emmanuel aka Koo Emma to be exhumed from the cemetery on Monday 26th June, a day after it was buried because the deceased never took part in communal labour when he was alive.
According to the chief, since the deceased did not respect the laws of the town, he’ll be endorsing indiscipline and impunity if he allows the body to be buried in the town and as a result ordered the youth to exhume the corpes.
The corpse which was earlier left at a major footpath in the town was subsequently dumped at the town’s lorry station over night.
The pungent odour of the fluid dripping from the corpse which leaked onto the ground fouled the atmosphere and made it difficult for people to breathe, while others feared an outbreak of a disease due to the excretion.
The corpse was subsequently re-buried.
A chieftaincy dispute is believed to be the main reason for what some have said is the chief’s wierd action, since for several years the deceased’s family (Asona) has been contesting the legitimacy of the current Chief Nana Twum Barima V, who’s from the Asene family.
