THE KILLER MAY ALREADY HAVE A KEY TO YOUR HOUSE: HOW SAFE ARE YOU WHEN THE PERSON INSIDE KNOWS EVERYTHING?

From Accra and Kumasi to Lagos, Arusha and Durban, employers have been murdered in cases involving house helps, cleaners, drivers, gardeners and security guards. The cases are different, but one vulnerability keeps appearing: the suspect did not always have to break into the house. They already had access.

Dr Jesse Amuah and his wife, Elizabeth Esi Amuah, disappeared from their Accra home in March 2026.

Months later, police recovered their remains.

Then came the detail that should concern every household that employs domestic staff.

The man Ghana Police say was responsible was not an armed robber who had forced his way over the wall.

He was their errand boy.

Police say Abraham Awundok, 32, allegedly killed the couple, took their phones, money and vehicle and fled to the United Arab Emirates. An INTERPOL operation resulted in his deportation from Dubai on August 30. The Inspector-General of Police later said Awundok admitted to the killings during interrogation. He remains in custody as investigations continue.

The Amuah case is shocking.

It is not the first.

And Ghana is not the only country confronting this uncomfortable form of violence.

GHANA HAS SEEN THIS BEFORE

Stella Osei, Kumasi

In September 2023, 35-year-old Stella Osei, also known as Princess Afua Ahenkan, employed John Allister as a house help through a job-placement agency.

Within about two weeks, she was dead.

Police alleged that Allister attacked his employer, killed her and took vehicles and property from the house. Her body was eventually discovered at her Sokoban-Apaaso residence.

The case became even more disturbing when another court heard allegations that Allister had previously stolen more than GH¢167,000 from an earlier employer.

How thoroughly was his history checked before he was sent into another home?

That question remains at the centre of the problem.

Professor Emmanuel Yaw Benneh, Accra

University of Ghana law professor Emmanuel Yaw Benneh was found murdered at his Adjiringanor home in September 2020.

Among those initially arrested were two cleaners, a houseboy and a gardener who worked around the property.

Police later treated cleaner James Nana Womba as the principal suspect after prosecutors said he admitted involvement. Womba died in police custody before trial.

In 2024, Ebenezer Kwayisi, who had been implicated in the case, pleaded guilty to abetment of manslaughter and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Dr Christopher Adu Boahen, Accra

In 2024, Dr Christopher Adu Boahen, son of historian Professor Albert Adu Boahen, was found dead in his home.

Police arrested his houseboy, Mark Forson, who was provisionally charged with murder.

The latest court record reviewed by Africa Reporters Network still described the matter as an allegation under investigation, so Forson's guilt has not been established by a final conviction.

Different victims.

Different years.

Different circumstances.

But the same disturbing feature keeps surfacing:

the alleged threat came from someone with legitimate access to the home.

THEN LOOK BEYOND GHANA

Nigeria has recorded an even longer chain of cases.

In June 2026, retired broadcaster Olakitan Oyesiku and security guard Pelumi Adetayo were found murdered at her Ogun State home. Police alleged that a former security guard who knew the household's routines recruited accomplices after being dismissed.

In 2015, former Federal University of Technology Akure Vice-Chancellor Professor Albert Ilemobade was killed. Police identified his domestic guard and a former driver as suspects.

In Lagos in 2016, Dayo Adeleke was allegedly killed by a domestic worker.

In another Nigerian case, naval officer Lieutenant Abubakar Yusuf was allegedly killed by a domestic worker following a salary dispute.

In Ondo State, Febisola Adedayo was killed in 2021. Her domestic worker was accused of murdering her and taking valuables.

In 2024, Aribim “Chuchu” Ajumogobia, daughter of Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, was found dead in Lagos. Domestic staff were among those charged in connection with the killing.

Nigeria's Saturday PUNCH investigation found that many domestic workers, guards and household employees continue to be recruited through informal networks with limited documentation and background verification. The newspaper also found no central national database specifically counting employers killed by domestic workers.

One Nigerian case should make African households particularly uncomfortable.

Two days after he was hired

Joseph Ogbu was employed as a domestic worker in Lagos.

Two days later, Adejoke John, 89, and her daughter Oreoluwa John were dead.

A Lagos High Court found that Ogbu strangled Adejoke and stabbed Oreoluwa before stealing a Toyota Camry, phones and other property.

In 2023, he was convicted of murder and armed robbery and sentenced to death.

Two days.

He had barely become an employee before becoming a killer.

TANZANIA: THE HOUSE WORKER WHO KILLED HIS EMPLOYER

In Tanzania, former Tanzania National Parks Authority official Emily Kisamo was murdered in Arusha in 2015.

His domestic worker, Ismail Sangwa, attacked him with a machete and hid his body in the boot of Kisamo's vehicle.

Sangwa was convicted and sentenced to death.

In July 2026, Tanzania's Court of Appeal upheld the conviction, finding that the prosecution had proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.

SOUTH AFRICA: THE GARDENER WHO REPORTED FOR WORK

In KwaZulu-Natal, gardener Dumisani Sibisi reported for work at the home of Norman and Ada Denton in 2004.

A court later convicted him of murdering both employers after attacking them with a crowbar and bushknife.

Again, there was no stranger forcing his way through the gate.

The killer had arrived for work.

THE PATTERN IS NOT THAT DOMESTIC WORKERS ARE KILLERS

That would be a reckless conclusion.

Millions of cleaners, house helps, nannies, gardeners, drivers and guards work honestly in African homes every day.

Many domestic workers are themselves exposed to exploitation, abuse, poor wages and unsafe working conditions.

The real warning is about access without adequate systems.

Think about what a domestic employee can potentially know.

They may know when you wake up.

When you travel.

Where your children attend school.

Which bedroom you sleep in.

Where the spare keys are.

Which gate is normally unlocked.

Whether the CCTV works.

Where jewellery is stored.

Which cars belong to whom.

When cash enters the house.

Who lives alone.

And when nobody else will be home.

Few employees in any organisation are given that amount of intimate operational intelligence.

Yet domestic workers are frequently recruited with less scrutiny than somebody being hired to work behind a desk.

AFRICA'S TRUST ECONOMY

Domestic employment across much of the continent still works through personal referrals.

“My sister knows her.”

“He comes from my hometown.”

“The old security man brought him.”

“My friend's house help recommended her.”

“The agency sent him.”

“He looks respectful.”

None of those statements constitutes a proper background check.

Nigeria's recent investigation found domestic workers and guards being recruited through friends, relatives and informal middlemen, sometimes without meaningful identity verification, documented employment histories or written contracts.

Ghana has already tried to formalise the sector.

The Labour (Domestic Workers) Regulations, 2020, L.I. 2408, require a written employment contract between domestic workers and employers and establish rules covering wages, rest periods, leave, worker rights, termination, monitoring and compliance.

The question is how many households actually operate that way.

BEFORE SOMEONE MOVES INTO YOUR HOME

Household security cannot begin after a worker has been given keys, access codes and unrestricted knowledge of the family.

At minimum:

Verify identity.
Do not rely solely on a name and telephone number. Obtain verifiable identification and residential information.

Check previous employers yourself.
Do not accept a telephone number simply because the applicant says it belongs to a former employer. Establish who you are actually speaking to.

Document the employment.
Use a written contract, photograph, emergency contact, address and employment record.

Vet recruitment agencies too.
Being supplied by an agency should not automatically be treated as proof that background checks have been completed.

Limit access according to the job.
The gardener does not automatically need access to bedrooms. The cleaner does not necessarily need access to financial documents. The driver does not need every household security code.

Change access when employment ends.
Keys, gate codes, remote controls, passwords and security permissions should be recovered or changed immediately.

Watch unusual interest in money and routines.
Questions about travel dates, cash, valuables, bank movements or when particular family members will be alone deserve attention.

Install security in layers.
CCTV, alarms and access controls should protect households even from somebody legitimately inside the compound.

And employers must treat workers properly.

Abuse, humiliation, withheld salaries and unlawful working conditions cannot be justified in the name of security. Formal employment protects both parties.

THE SECURITY THREAT THAT DOESN'T CLIMB THE WALL

African households are spending more money protecting themselves.

Electric fences.

Higher walls.

Cameras.

Private guards.

Tracking devices.

Alarm systems.

Heavy gates.

But virtually all those systems are designed around one assumption:

the dangerous person is outside.

The cases of Jesse and Elizabeth Amuah, Stella Osei, Professor Benneh and others across Africa expose a vulnerability that works differently.

Sometimes the person does not need to defeat your security.

You have already opened the gate.

You may have handed them the keys.

And by the time trust becomes dangerous, they may already know everything.