Family calls timing ‘highly suspicious’
TNR Files
The family of murdered herbal medicine practitioner Dr Felix Antwi Darkwah has condemned the Kasoa court’s decision to grant GH₵100,000 bail to the prime suspects including the deceased’s wife, Charlotte Antwi describing the amount as “peanuts” for a murder case and questioning the conduct of both police and state prosecutors.
The 69-year-old was allegedly poisoned and set ablaze in his bedroom on August 10, following a land dispute with his wife. Only his bedroom was burnt. His wife and two workers who lived with him emerged unscathed and are now suspects.
The family’s anger has centred on the Cape Coast State Attorney’s office, which failed to appear in court to oppose the bail application, citing logistical constraints. “If they had informed us, we would have catered for that,” a family member told The New Republic.
The bail was granted a day before the scheduled autopsy a timing that has raised eyebrows.
Daniel Antwi, who flew from the United Kingdom following his father’s death, said the family had expected a significantly higher bail with justified sureties to ensure accountability should the suspects abscond. Dissatisfied with the Kasoa police and regional attorney’s office, the family escalated the case to police headquarters in Accra and prevailed upon the Attorney General’s department to request a review of the bail conditions.
The review application seeking to increase bail to GH₵1 million per suspect was filed, but the judge reportedly dismissed the arguments, insisting that since bail had already been granted, the suspects should be released. They were subsequently released on the same Friday and are expected back in court on September 11 for the review hearing.
Antwi described the judge’s treatment of a state attorney from the AG’s department as “embarrassing”. “He disrespected and disgraced him, which in my opinion should not have happened. The issue was between the judge and the police the AG’s representative was a different party who had just come in. To subject him to that humiliation was not right.”
In a development that has further inflamed the family, Mrs Antwi has been handed the keys to the house – despite police having earlier marked it as a crime scene. Police told the family they had concluded their investigation into thefts reported at the house after the fire.
Asked whether he suspected collusion, Antwi answered in the affirmative. “That is the number one reason we sought the transfer. When they heard we had moved the case, they were furious and that makes it suspicious.”
The family has revealed that Dr Darkwah was poisoned earlier this year an incident he survived after four days on oxygen. The New Republic has obtained an audio recording in which the deceased narrates the incident and names his wife as the prime suspect, alleging she acted with an accomplice.
Just a day after the poisoning, while the doctor was still battling for his life, Mrs Antwi reportedly left for the United States. Upon her return, she allegedly began pressuring him to vacate the house – a property the deceased had built himself but which she had allegedly re-registered in her name.
“He sold all the houses he built in Kasoa to resettle you and your four children in the US,” Antwi said of his stepmother. “He was not wicked. Today, your children have all returned to build in Kasoa. How many houses do you want, that the only one left for you and him, you demand he vacate for you?”
On August 10, a dispute over the house escalated and was reported to Kasoa police. After failed settlement attempts, officers asked both parties to return the following day to explore taking the case to court. That night, the deceased was allegedly set ablaze.
The autopsy report has now confirmed murder. “That is what the medical professionals said,” Antwi stated.
The family remains suspicious: “The police told them to go home and return the next day… and he never made it alive.”