The Attorney-General congratulated the two on his own behalf and on behalf of President Nana Akufo–Addo on the immense effort they put in the work to obtain a conviction, which has brought relief to the nation.

Mr Dame noted that it is only fit and proper to acknowledge and reward officers who achieve remarkable accomplishments in their work.

He added that, with the Takoradi missing girls’ case, the responsibility to bring the matter to its logical conclusion rested on the Attorney-General’s Office, and that burden has successfully been discharged by the two Attorneys.

Mr Dame said, it was in that regard that he found it appropriate to recognise their efforts, particularly considering the interest the public had in the case.

The Attorney General was thankful to the team of Attorneys at the Takoradi office, particularly Mrs Klinogo and Mrs Kobiri-Woode.

A citation was read and presented to Mrs Klinogo and Mrs Kobiri-Woode who contributed immensely to the case.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Mrs Yvonne Attakora Obuobisa expressed appreciation to the Minister for mooting the lunch programme and for recognising the diligence of these Attorneys.

Mrs Klinogo, on her part, thanked the Attorney-General for the gesture and added that the award will motivate them to do better.

The meeting was held on March 29, 2021 at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra.

The family of one of the four Takoradi missing girls is still in a state of denial over the death of their daughter, Ruth Abekah.

The family has hinted of a prayer marathon to spiritually disturb the police and the government to bring back their girls.

A Sekondi High Court, presided over by Justice Agyei Frimpong, on Friday, March 5, 2021, sentenced two persons arrested in connection with the kidnapping and deaths of the girls to death.

The suspects; Samuel Udeotuk Wills and John Oji, were charged for kidnapping and murdering Ruth Abakah, 19; Priscilla Blessing Bentum, 21; Ruth Love Quayson, 18 and Priscilla Koranchie, 15, who were captured at Kansawurodo, Butumagyebu and Nkroful Junction, all in Sekondi-Takoradi of the Western Region.

However, Emmanuel Cobbinah Anzah, grandfather of the late Abakah said the family is not satisfied with the ruling.

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“I am not satisfied because that was not what I was expecting today, it is just a way to end the case and search for the girls. I expect that my granddaughter is brought back from wherever she is because she is alive,” he said.

He accused the Police of conjuring the DNA report coupled with the skeletons that were brought to the family as a way to end the case.

 “They should not use those skeletons as a yardstick to judge because when they brought we denied that those were our children,” he added.

A Sekondi High Court on Friday, March 5, 2021, sentenced the two suspects, Samuel Udeotuk Wills and John Oji to death by hanging.

They were charged for kidnapping and murdering Ruth Abakah, 19; Priscilla Blessing Bentum, 21; Ruth Love Quayson,18 and Priscilla Koranchie, 15.

This ruling, which has been hailed by many, especially on social media, has not been received well by the grieving families.

Adom News’ Lord Tawiah, who interacted with some of them, reported that they were not too pleased with the sentence.

He explained that the families were hoping the court would compel the suspects to show the whereabouts of their children.

“If it is true that the girls are dead; they would show themselves to us spiritually but till now nothing so we know they are alive,” a family member told Lord Tawiah.

They are convinced the girls are alive and will one day reunite with the family.

The High Court, presided over by Justice Richard Adjei-Frimpong, an Appeals Court Judge with additional responsibility as High Court judge, fixed the date after the prosecution and the defence counsel addressed the court.

Seven-member jury

The trial judge is expected to sum-up evidences adduced in court and adduced by the parties in the case to pave the way for the seven-member jury to return a guilty or not guilty verdict.

The jury would deliberate on whether or not the offences levelled against the accused persons would enable the court to proceed to either convict or free them based on the jurors’ decision.

Earlier, the prosecution, led by Chief State Attorney, Ms Patience Klinogo, urged the jury to consider the evidence levelled against the accused persons as they prepare to brief the court.

The prosecution, she said, had successfully proved all the offences against both accused persons beyond all reasonable doubts and the only possible verdict in this case was guilty on all the four-counts of conspiracy and all four counts of murder against both of the accused persons.

Verdict of guilty

“I, therefore, urge you to return a verdict of guilty against both accused persons on each of the eight counts after my Lord has summed-up the case to you,” Ms Klinogo said.

She said in the light of the evidence adduced, “we submit that the two accused persons agreed to act together in this case with one common purpose of committing the offence of murder through the means of kidnapping the four girls and killing them.”

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Ms Klinogo said the offence of murder as set out in Section 47 of Act 29/60 stated that “a person who intentionally causes the death of another person by an unlawful harm commits murder unless the murder is reduced to manslaughter by reason of an extreme provocation, or any other matter of partial excuse, as mentioned in Section 52.”

She told the court that by that definition and by the particulars of the offences in the bill of indictment in this case, the prosecution had proven the following element: That the four victims, namely Ruth Abeka, Priscilla Blessing Bentum, Ruth Love Quayson and Priscilla Mantebea Koranchie are dead.

Death of the victims

The prosecutor said the death of the victims was as a result of harm inflicted on them and that it was the accused persons who inflicted the unlawful harm on the four victims.

Also in her submission, the Chief State Attorney said the harm caused was unlawful or could not be justified and the accused persons caused the unlawful harm intentionally; “that is, with intent to cause the death of the victims. There was no extreme provocation or other matter of partial excuse.”

However, in his address to the jury, the defence counsel for the two accused persons debunked all the claims saying that the prosecution was not able to prove the offence of murder against the two.

The defense counsel for the second accused person, Samuel Agbota, submitted that it was not right that Oji, who used an alibi, was not given the chance to prove his case.

Burden of proof

He said under the circumstances, the burden of prove or veracity of the alibi fell on the prosecution and not the accused since he was in confinement from the day of his arrest and there was no chance to prove the alibi.

He said it was not acceptable if the prosecution claimed that the four girls died as a result of harm, saying, “the prosecution was not able to adduce any credible evidence that the four victims died as a result of harm caused by the two accused persons.”

Mr Agbota said there was also no evidence that the remains of the victims were in the house of Mr Wills since the remains were retrieved from different areas (a well and cesspit) at different locations in the metropolis, adding that: “The offence of murder was not proven by prosecution.”

Counsel for the second accused, who spoke for both, said it was interesting that one of the accused, Mr Wills, who the prosecution did not trust, was able to provide them information leading to the arrest of the second accused.

“It was also interesting that, after the retrieval of the alleged social media conversation, the prosecution did not seek the expertise of an IT professional to prove their case,” he said.

He urged the court to weigh the evidence before them and return a good verdict.

Suspect Wills, who is currently facing a charge of conspiracy to commit murder with his Nigerian counterpart, John Orji, said this when he formally opened his defense at the Sekondi High Court, presided over by a Court of Appeal Judge, Justice Richard Adjei-Frimpong.

When asked if he knew the four murdered kidnapped girls, suspect Wills told the court he knew Priscilla Blessing Bentum and Priscilla Mantebia Kurankyi as casual friends but never conspired to kidnap and murder them.

“I knew the two Priscillas. I met Priscilla Blessing Bentum at Effiakuma Methodist Church in 2017 and our friendship was just casual. For Priscilla Mantebia Kurankyi, I met her at a Waakye joint around the Phastor Block yard in 2018. Our friendship was also casual,” he said.

Suspect Wills, however, denied the charge and explained how he heard about the kidnappings.

“I never conspired with Orji to kidnap and murder them. I never kidnapped and murdered anyone as two of these young ladies are very good friends of mine. I heard the kidnapping when I was in Koforidua through my girlfriend, Emily Alimo. I don’t remember the date, but the time was around 10:am.

“Emily called me on the phone to tell me to meet her at her sister’s house in Koforidua. She told me a family member of Priscilla Bentum said her sister called and said I have kidnapped her which I was surprised. I denied, and I told her to tell the family to call me or meet me in Takoradi in the house I stayed the next day which I came. I never got any response from them again. For Priscilla Kurankyi, it was in Police cell when I heard about her kidnapping just like the other two. Upon my arrival in Takoradi, I also called Emily to tell them I’m around, but I was arrested with my friends Abachure and Papa after not hearing anything from the family on 23rd December 2018.

“This was around 5:am after hearing shouts ‘don’t move, don’t move, we are the police. If you move we will shoot you’. After arresting me, the police collected my black bag including $3,400, some cedis and two mobile phones. My friends were given bail the next day and I have not heard from them again,” he said.

When the State Attorney, Patience Klinogo, asked about the itemised bill with his mobile phone numbers, registered with fake names and having called the kidnapped girls and their families, Mr Wills denied.

“The MTN number is mine but the Tigo line is my lost number and the subsequent number is not mine, hence I’m surprised my girlfriend said it is mine. I have no idea of any ransom paid to my Tigo number. The numbers that are mine, they were registered by the chip sellers after I told them I don’t have ID cards. So they were not registered in my name. I disagree with the allegation that I registered them with fake names,” he said in court.

Suspect Wills also denied his Facebook chat with some of his friends submitted to the court by the investigators as evidence of discussing kidnapping and blood money.

“Samuel Wills is not my Facebook name but King Samuel, therefore, those chats are not mine,” he said.

He appeared at the Sekondi High Court in a sleeveless t-shirt, a boxer shot and in chains after fierce resistance to be taken to court.

This forced the prisons and police team to first bring in the second accused, John Orji before he was later forcefully brought to court.

His opening of defense had to be delayed by one hour by the Presiding Court of Appeal Judge, Justice Richard Adjei-Frimpong following a plea by his counsel.

Suspect Wills told the prison wardens and detectives who had gone to pick him from the Sekondi Central Prisons that: “I don’t see why I have to go to court.”

On the part of the second accused, suspect Orji, Justice Richard Adjei-Frimpong rejected a submission of no-case by the second accused against a charge of conspiracy to commit murder in the ongoing Takoradi kidnapped girl’s’ murder case.

The lawyer for the second accused, Mark Bosia, made the submission of no-case at the last sitting of the court after the State Attorney, Patience Klinogo, completed her submission of case.

The Sekondi High Court has since adjourned the case to February 2, 2021, for the cross-examination of the first accused to continue.

Citinewsroom

The suspect told the presiding judge that he was not being given enough food in the prisons where he is being kept awaiting trial.

John Orji, who was arrested from neighbouring Togo last year, claimed he was asthmatic and needed to eat good food, something he was being denied.

“My handlers are not taking care of my health. I’m asthmatic and the medicine I’m being given requires adequate food but I’m not getting that,” he told the judge.

The presiding judge, Justice Adjei-Frimpong, referred the matter to the prison officials, asking that they take good care of him and insisted on legal representation for the two suspects, including Sam Udoetuk Wills.

Udoetuk Wills and Orji earlier told the court that they had no legal representation with the judge asking the authorities to make an effort to get them lawyers so that the case can proceed smoothly after committal.

The judge indicated that he would write to the Legal Aid to provide the suspect with legal representation.

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He said the case was a matter of public interest and so there was the need to expedite the trial.

Besides, the judge raised issues with the absence of an alibi in the account of the second accused and asked Orji to provide investigators with information on his whereabouts when the killings took place.

A State Attorney, Patience Klinogo, admitted to the court that the accused persons were yet to get legal representation.

The case was adjourned to July 29, 2020.

Later in an interview, the lawyer representing the families of the Kidnapped Takoradi girls, Nana Abeka, said the accused persons were in court for the commencement of the trial after completing the committal proceedings.

The families have made an appeal to the Inspector General of Police not to renege on his commitment to release the human parts for an independent DNA test.

A sister to one of the girls, Rebecca Quayson, said apart from being refused the remains, the families have also been refused hard copies of the initial police forensic results that confirmed the deaths of the girls, that had been missing for over a year.

She told Citi News that the families cannot have closure until they independently conduct DNA tests to corroborate or dispute the police report.

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“We are not happy because the IGP held a press conference telling Ghanaians that if the family wanted a second opinion, he was ready to release the bones. But it is a different story now.”

She said three families went to the Western Region police command and requested for the remains for “a second opinion and maybe burial.”

“But they are telling us that it is evidence and they have to keep it and they have to guard it for security reasons and all that,” she recounted.

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Rebecca Quayson thus urged Ghanaians to come to support their demands for the remains insisting that the police “can’t bury our girls for us.”

“If you trust the work that you have done and you trust the report you have come to tell Ghanaians, what is stopping you for giving us the bones?”

The missing girls were declared dead by police on August 15, 2019.

The victims, Priscilla Bentum, Ryth Love Quayson, Priscilla Mantebea Kuranchie and Ruth Abakah were kidnapped in Takoradi in the Western Region between July and December 2018.

Three of human parts were found in a sewage system in Takoradi near the home of the main suspect in the case.

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Police also later found a fourth set of human remains at Nkroful new site at Takoradi as part of their investigations drawing the family of another missing person, Ruth Abakah, into the case.

Samuel Udoetuk-Wills, the main suspect in the case, is already serving an 18-months sentence for escaping from jail after his initial arrest in connection with the kidnappings.

Source: citifm

Below is the full transcript of the IGP’s statement 

The officers of the Ghana Police Service informed four families in Takoradi in the Western region that the DNA test conducted on samples discovered in the course of police investigations into the disappearance of four missing girls have turned positive as the remains of the girls.

The GPS has with regret, therefore, informed the families that the remains are those of Ruth Abakah, Priscilla Blessing Bentum, Ruth Love Quayson and Priscilla Koranchie.

The investigations now establish that the girls were victims of kidnapping and murdering syndicate that operated in the Takoradi area. While for various reasons we were unsuccessful in obtaining and acting on accurate actionable intelligence in good time to enable us to rescue the girls, we believe that the arrest of the culprits has effectively thwarted the ability of this syndicate to have continued with further kidnappings and murders.

ALSO: Confirmed: Takoradi missing girls dead, skeletons found are theirs -Police (Video)

Sequences of disappearance

Miss Abakah went missing on July 29, 2018. The second victim, Miss Priscilla Bentum went missing August 15, 2018; on December 4, 2018, Ruth Love Quayson also went missing. The disappearance of the fourth victim, Priscilla Koranchie was on December 21, 2018. 

On December 22, the police were able to track the number though which some ransom had been paid, which led to the arrest of Samuel Udotek Wills to assist with investigations. Mr Wills later escape from custody on December 30, 2018, but was rearrested three days later in an uncompleted building at Nkroful, a suburb of Takoradi. 

He has been convicted from escaping from lawful custody, and he was brought to the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Police Service where upon interrogations he admitted that he together with suspects John Orji and John Shika kidnapped the young girls and sent them by road to a location in Nigeria known as ‘Baby factory’ in Anambra State. He, however, denied the knowledge of the whereabouts of Ruth Abaka. 

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The evaluation of this confession and other intelligence from Nigeria on the location and modus operandi of this ‘Baby factory’ culminated in an assessment by the investigative team at this stage that they had a fair idea of the location of the girls and it will be possible to bring them home. 

Between April and July 2019, several surveillance operations were mounted in Onitsha, Orca, Port Harcourt and Calabar all in Nigeria. These were locations where suspects Samuel Udotek Wills mentioned at different times as places where the girls were sent and directed investigative teams with the hope of tracing and rescuing the girls. 

Upon collaborations with other intelligence and investigative agents across West Africa, the second suspect John Orji was tracked and arrested at the Aflao border on June 4, 2019. During interrogations, Orji admitted knowing Udotek Wills but denied any knowledge of kidnapping. He claimed that he had met Udotek Wills to collect some monies owed him after Udotek Wills had sent him to Tamale to bring him a money ritual box. 

The two suspects were put together for questioning and while Udotek Wills said he did not know where the girls where John maintained his denial of any involvement in the kidnapping of the girls. Two officials from the Nigeria National Agency for the Protection of Trafficked Persons, came to Ghana on June 17, 2019, to assist the police in their investigations. They interrogated both Samuel and Orji at the Police Headquarters, which did not yield any actionable information. 

Efforts to also locate the girls in Nigeria did not yield any result by July 31, 2019. The Nigerian leads were unreliable and unreliable as at that date. On August 2, 2019, the investigations team was informed by the National Agency for the Protection of Trafficked Persons that a third suspect, Chika Nnouedem had been arrested in Abuja. In a video interrogation of the suspect, Udotek Wills identified Chika to the police as one of the accomplices. 

Chika also apparently knowing Udotek Wills willing spoke with him with regards to the missing girls and in the process, Udotek Wills asked him about the girls. In a confrontational exchange between the two, Udotek Wills insisted that it was Chika and another person, Mama Soboma, had taken the girls to Nigeria.  

NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia expressed sadness on Joy News programme PM Express Monday, mourned that promising lives have been “cut short prematurely”.

“Maybe we could have seen a president or prime minister coming from these girls”, he said after the Acting Inspector General of Police, James Oppong-Boanuh addressed a press conference announcing an end to the search.

ALSO; Confirmed: Takoradi missing girls dead, skeletons found are theirs -Police (Video)

The IGP said DNA evidence on human remains found in a septic tank of the main suspect Samuel Utodek Wills have confirmed the identities of the girls.

The Takoradi kidnapped girls saga became a subject of a sustained media campaign to get the police find the girls who went missing between July and December 2018.

Over a year, there has been several demonstrations and prayer sessions including fasting in the hope of finding the girls.

Asiedu Nketia called the one-year wait for a closure of the saga “a very traumatizing experience” for the families and asked for prayers for the departed souls.

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He said throughout the saga, the “reputation of the police has been so badly damaged” he is unsure whether to accept or deny the credibility of the DNA tests.

Giving the police the benefit of the doubt, however, the NDC General Secretary hoped that “what they are saying is true.”

The CID boss DCOP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquahin April announced at a press conference “we know where the girls are” and urged the families to “keep on keeping on.”

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According to the main suspect Samuel Udotek Wills the girls were sent to Nigeria by road to a place called Baby Factory.

But weeks later, she was roundly condemned after confessing, the statement was just to give the family hope. The confession triggered calls for her resignation or sack.

With news of the girls’ murder, the NDC General Secretary said “let us hope that what they are saying is true.”

Source: Myjoyonline.com

“The remains were discovered at an uncompleted building where Samuel Udutoek-Wills was re-arrested in connection with missing persons and later convicted for unlawful escape,” an update from the police said.

Investigations are underway to establish the identity of the remains while Police continue with all angles of the ongoing investigation.

The update comes as the police are collaborating with the family of three missing girls in the Western Regional capital who have been allegedly kidnapped by Udutoek-Wills.

The first girl, Priscilla Bentum has been missing since August 17, 2018.

On Friday, July 31, police discovered some set of human remains in a septic tank on a property previously owned by the suspect.

The police said they made the discovery as part of their own efforts at examining several angles of the investigation.

“Claims that a confession or tip-off led to the discovery are untrue,” the police said.

What have the families of the missing girls said?

The families of the girls have meanwhile, said they are unwilling to collaborate with the DNA team which has been dispatched to Takoradi to ascertain if the remains are those of the victims.

According to the families, the manner in which the case has been handled is worrying.

Mr Koranchie father of the girls told Joy News’ Kojo Yankson in an interview that until the many yet-to-be-answered questions boggling his mind gets cleared by the police, his family will not submit themselves for any checks.

“Mr Brian Acheampong (Minister of State in charge of National Security) and the CID boss (Maame Tiwa Addo-Danquah) have all confirmed to us that the girls are alive and are in safe hands. They said they are doing all they can to go and rescue them,” the distressed father said.

“For them to turn around and tell us that they have found some bones in a certain manhole…we don’t believe it. I don’t believe whatever is going on so I cannot avail myself to the DNA test that will be done. This is my decision.”

The families at a joint presser on Tuesday, have said they will only cooperate if the DNA tests would be carried out by an independent forensic expert.

“We are calling on all our statesmen, the past and present presidents of Ghana, the Christian Council of Ghana, the Muslim community, civil societies and the diplomatic missions to intervene for us because the desperation and the perplexity are simply weighing us down”.

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Next month marks the first anniversary of the August 17 kidnapping of 17-year-old Priscilla Blessing Bentum in 2018.

By December, two more, Ruth Love Quayson and Priscilla Kuranchie were kidnapped on 4^th and 21^st respectively.

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Addressing the media on Monday, the families said they are desperate for news about their daughters whereabouts.

“The Ghana Police Service and government officials should stop raising our hopes. They should stop the false reportage to the media” the cautioned.

Source: Adomonline.com|Gertrude Otchere