‘I Beheaded Her in One Strike’ — Suspected Ritualist Confesses to Killing Woman in Ghana

By Micheal Chukwuebuka

A suspected ritualist has allegedly confessed that he felt a powerful urge to kill before carrying out the act in Bentum, a community in the Awutu Senya District of Ghana’s Central Region.

According to reports, law enforcement agents arrested the suspect, identified as Horlali Alatusa, a spiritualist believed to be in his early twenties, after residents reported a strong, unpleasant smell coming from a nearby farm area.

The discovery led authorities to investigate the location, eventually uncovering the crime.

According to a video circulating online, the victim, known as Akua, had previously visited the suspect for spiritual help and had reportedly recovered from an illness after receiving treatment from him.

The suspect indicated that the victim had not harmed him in any way and had no known conflict with him.

Alatusa claimed that his troubling thoughts began after he handled human skeletal remains his brother had brought to him for ritual purposes.

He said that after touching the remains, he started experiencing repeated urges to kill someone, including thoughts about harming people close to him.

The suspect said those urges returned on the day the victim came to visit him.

He allegedly convinced her to accompany him to a farm under the pretext of harvesting herbs.

While on the way, he attacked her with a machete, killing her instantly.

“So, the fateful day the lady came to visit me, I got the urge again to kill her. I lured her to the farm under the guise of harvesting herbs. I picked up a machete and beheaded her in one strike while on our way to the farm. She never got to shout,” he confessed.

He further claimed that he carried out the crime alone and believed the impulse he experienced drove his actions.

Investigators say the suspect also admitted to dismembering the victim’s body after the killing.

He reportedly buried the victim’s legs at his residence and placed the severed head in a sack before traveling to his hometown, Mafi-Avedo in the Volta Region.

“I cut off her legs after beheading her because I got scared. I buried her legs at my house, but for her head, I wrapped it in a sack and traveled to my hometown, Mafi-Avedo, in the Volta Region,” he said.

According to his account, he later informed his grandfather about what had happened, and the head was subsequently buried in a cemetery.

Despite the brutal nature of the crime, the suspect acknowledged that the victim had previously supported him.