Suspected Mentally Ill Man Slashes Female Farmer Over Farmland

A 55-year old female farmer at Taffiasi in the Sissala East Municipality, Zenabu Alidu, sustained severe machete wounds after she was allegedly attacked by a suspected mentally ill man over farmland. She was rushed to the Sissala East Municipal Hospital in Tumu at about 1100 hours.

According to the medical authorities of the facility, the victim spent about five hours in the theatre and later referred to the Wa Regional Hospital for further medical attention due to the severity of the wounds sustained.

A theatre staff of the Hospital, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Madam Zenabu was referred to the Wa Regional Hospital due to the deep wounds she sustained on her skull.

Narrating her ordeal, Madam Zenabu said few days before the incident, while visiting her two-acre farmland together with her daughter, she saw Saworu Salia, 49, the alleged mentally ill man on her farm unpacking some wood she had already packed to be burnt.

“I then asked him what he was doing on my farm unpacking my wood and he insulted me and my daughter, but we ignored his insults and returned home”, she said.

Madam Zenabu noted that upon her return to the farm the following day, she again met Alidu who had already kept some grass on top of the wood she planned to burn.

“I asked him why he did that and he answered that he was also going to farm on the land. I then asked him to leave the place whilst I repack the wood, but immediately I bent down, he hacked my neck with the cutlass and I fell down”, she narrated sorrowfully.

“I tried to get up and wrestle him but fell down again giving him the chance to inflict more cutlass wounds on my head, hands, back, and legs until I started wailing and calling for help”, she added.

Madam Zenabu noted that while she was going through the ordeal, a pregnant woman closed by, heard her screaming and decided to come to the scene, but upon seeing her, Alidu took to his heels. “She then went for her donkey truck and brought me to the chief’s house where I was later carried on motor bike to the hospital in Tumu”, he said.

Meanwhile, Inspector Thomas Mensah, Station Officer, said Alidu has been arrested and charged with unlawfully causing harm and attempted murder. He has since been arraigned before the Tumu Magistrate Court and has been remanded in police custody.