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Abena AfrakomahClick to enlarge

HAMILTON — A trial date has been set for a West Chester Twp. woman accused of abusing an elderly Middletown woman she cared for because she thought the older woman was having sex with evil spirits and needed to be "punished."

Abena Afrakomah, 57, a Ghana native, is charged with one count of assault, a fourth-degree felony, for allegedly hitting and pinching a 74-year-old woman for whom she had provided care for two years.

The victim, Josephine Crawford, is unable to speak due to illness, but testified with help of a dry-erase board a during a May preliminary hearing in Middletown Municipal Court.

"She said the evil spirits were using me," Crawford wrote about Afrakomah.

Middleown police say the caretaker twisted Crawford's arm and pinched her on the cheeks and in the groin area.

Judge Keith Spaeth ordered a competency evaluation by a forensic psychologist. Following a hearing Sept. 18, Afrakomah was found competent to stand trial.

Afakomah's trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 8 before Spaeth. She is free on bond.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.