Man accidentally ‘kills’ three of his brother’s children, charged with murder

Blood, they say, is thicker than water, but how can a man who knows his brother and kids accidentally kill three of the children? This is the question on the minds of many when the news is that a man has accidentally ‘killed’ three of his brother’s children.

The sad event happened in the Asokore Mampong Municipality of the Ashanti Region, Ghana, where three children lost their lives following their exposure to bedbug fumigation chemicals in their family house around the Asawase Railways.

What was supposed to be an effort to protect everyone at home from bed bugs turned out to be a fatal exercise in the end.

The sad man in the controversy surrounding the deaths of the three children is Mr. Anthony Frans, an uncle of the deceased kids.

He has been charged with murdering the three kids provisionally in connection with the above incident and granted bail of GHC20,000 with two sureties by the District Court at Asokore Mampong.

Narrating the facts of the case to the court, Samuel Buabin Quansah, the state prosecutors indicated that the suspect had allegedly applied Baktoxin Fumigation Tablets, commonly known as ‘bomb,’ on December 28, 2023. The aim of the fumigation exercise was to disinfect the house where the children were spending their holidays.

However, it was discovered later that Mary Magdelene Afua Frans and Christian Nana Benin Jacob Frans were all unconscious after the fumigation. They were rushed to a health facility for medical attention but were pronounced dead when they arrived at the Manhyia Government Hospital.

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Additional information made public during the court hearing on Tuesday (January 9) is that the elder sister, Judith Ekua Frans, referred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, has passed on from the same disinfection exercise, but their grandmother, Akua Gyaabena, 66, has been hospitalized at the health facility.

The public prosecutor sought the help of the court to remand the suspect into police custody for further investigation, but the request was denied by the court after a strong defence put forth by the accused person’s counsel. The case has been adjourned to January 23, 2023, and the court did not take the suspect’s plea.