SHE KILLED HER HUSBAND SO SHE COULD MARRY A WHITE MAN LIVING IN THE U.S.
Salamatu Karim, A.K.A. Mother, arranged with her brother to get men to kill her husband, Abdul Karim. According to police investigations, this was because she was expecting a white boyfriend living in the United States to come to Ghana to marry her, and she believed her husband’s presence would prevent that plan from succeeding if he found out. Her involvement was eventually uncovered, and she was convicted of abetment of murder and sentenced to death.
THE PLAN
Salamatu contacted her brother, Awudu Alhassan Sulemana, A.K.A. Dozer, about four months before the killing.
She informed Awudu about her relationship with the white man and explained that her husband’s presence could prevent her from marrying him. She also complained that her husband subjected her to severe beatings.
Awudu then recruited Mohammed Sulemana, A.K.A. Banana, and Kofi Nyagbedzi to help carry out the killing. Police investigations established that they were promised GH¢1,000.
THE KILLING
On June 15th, 2013, the men were transported from Dodowa to Salamatu’s residence at ACP Estates near Pokuase.
Salamatu allowed them into the house and concealed them inside the bathroom with clubs and pieces of wood while they waited for her husband to return.
She mixed his food with diazepam, also known as Valium, to make him fall asleep.
After Abdul returned home, ate the food and became weak, Salamatu called the men out of the bathroom. They subjected him to a sustained attack that left him with a fractured skull, a fractured jaw and other serious injuries.
Abdul was transported to a hospital but was pronounced dead.
After the attackers left, Salamatu began calling for help. At approximately 9:35 p.m., she informed the police that unknown robbers had entered the house and killed her husband while she was bathing.
THE POLICE BREAKTHROUGH
On June 18th, 2013, only three days after the killing, police received information that a group of suspected robbers was preparing to attack a hotel at Adenta.
Officers arrested several suspects at the hotel. During the arrest, one of them received a telephone call from Kofi, who wanted to know whether the robbery operation had been successful.
Police instructed the suspect to tell Kofi that the operation had succeeded and invited him to the hotel to receive his share. When Kofi arrived, he was arrested in connection with the planned hotel robbery.
While police questioned Kofi about the robbery operation, he disclosed information linking himself, Salamatu, Awudu and Mohammed to the killing of Abdul.
Acting on that information, police traced Awudu and Mohammed to Dodowa, where they were arrested. According to the prosecution, the two men gave confession statements admitting their involvement and implicating Salamatu as the person who planned and facilitated the killing.
A taxi driver also approached the police after hearing about the case in the media. He identified Salamatu as the person who hired him to transport the men from Dodowa to the residence on the day of the killing.
Salamatu denied contracting the men to kill her husband.
ARREST AND INITIAL COURT PROCEEDINGS
Salamatu, Awudu, Mohammed and Kofi were arrested by the police. They were subsequently brought before the Osu Magistrate Court, which remanded them into prison custody while investigations continued.
The case was later transferred to the High Court in Accra for trial.
THE HIGH COURT TRIAL
Awudu was charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Mohammed was charged with conspiracy to commit murder, while Salamatu was charged with abetment of murder.
All three pleaded not guilty.
During the trial, Awudu and Mohammed challenged the confession statements attributed to them. They claimed that the statements were obtained through beatings, electric shocks, threats and coercion.
On December 1st, 2015, the High Court ordered a separate hearing to determine whether the statements had been made voluntarily.
After hearing evidence from the prosecution, the accused persons, the investigator and an independent witness, the trial judge ruled on December 17th, 2015, that the statements were voluntary and admitted them into evidence.
THE FIRST COURT OF APPEAL CASE
Awudu and Mohammed appealed against the decision to admit their confession statements while the murder trial was still ongoing.
On July 28th, 2016, the Court of Appeal dismissed their appeal. The court found that the statements had been properly recorded in the presence of an independent witness and allowed the High Court trial to continue.
THE HIGH COURT JUDGMENT
After the trial, the jury unanimously found all three accused persons guilty.
Awudu was convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Mohammed was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, while Salamatu was convicted of abetment of murder.
All three were sentenced to death.
The published judgments primarily focused on the planned murder, the confession statements, the medical evidence and the individual roles of the three convicts. I did not find the white boyfriend, the exact GH¢1,000 payment, the use of Valium or the taxi driver’s account separately discussed in the published judgments. Those details were contained in the police investigations and the original media briefing about the case.
THE COURT OF APPEAL (AGAIN)
Salamatu, Awudu and Mohammed appealed against their convictions and sentences.
On November 15th, 2018, the Court of Appeal dismissed their appeal and affirmed the High Court’s decision.
The court held that the confession statements had been properly admitted, the jury had been fairly directed and the available evidence supported the convictions.
THE SUPREME COURT APPEAL
Salamatu, Awudu and Mohammed subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court on 13 grounds.
They challenged the confession statements, the credibility of the prosecution witnesses, the directions given to the jury, the evidence concerning conspiracy and abetment and the sentences imposed on them.
On July 29th, 2026, a five member Supreme Court panel unanimously dismissed the appeal.
The Supreme Court found that the confession statements were properly admitted and supported by Kofi’s testimony, the medical findings and the circumstances surrounding the killing.
The court concluded that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that the killing was planned, Awudu and Mohammed participated in it and Salamatu intentionally facilitated it.
Their convictions and death sentences were consequently affirmed.
I did a lot of readings from multiple sources but I could not find reliable information explaining what happened to Kofi or the other suspects who were not included in the final judgment.
I also found no information about the outcome of Kofi’s separate robbery related case.
This case started with Salamatu reporting that unknown robbers had killed her husband. However, information obtained by police during an entirely different robbery investigation exposed what the courts eventually found to be a carefully planned murder involving the victim’s wife, her brother and another man.
Can you imagine? This is exactly what I have always been saying. Most Children in the Gen Z generation can be so heartless, rude, disrespectful, and lazy, and some do not seem to care about their parents. Parents should be conscious of how much they do for their children.
Awon odaju omo.
Do not sacrifice yourself or work yourself to death for them. There should be limits to what you do for your children.
In This Biography
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