The police are making inroads in tracking the killers of a manager of Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) following the arrest of two people linked to the murder.
The latest development in connection with the murder case of Josephine Asante Tandoh, a senior staff of GPHA, has it that two prime suspects have been arrested lately.
The suspects, Richard Kwabena Kwakye, alias Kwabena Boateng, 37-year-old former GPHA driver, and Dominic Owusu, a 51-year-old taxi driver, were apprehended after fleeing to Burkina Faso following the incident on January 13, 2019.
Per information gathered by DAILY GUIDE from sources within the police, the suspects attacked the victim after laying ambush around her residence at Block E of EMEF Estate on the Afienya road where she resided together with her husband and 12-year-old son.
The victim had attended a get-together party organised by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority at the senior staff club house at Tema Community Six and returning home, when the suspects followed her vehicle into the compound and entered her apartment, before stabbing and strangling her to death.
At about 3:30am that Sunday, the house boy and the deceased’s son heard some unusual sound on the compound and therefore conducted a search, but did not find anything. They therefore retired to bed.
However, the house boy claimed he saw a male figure wearing a black T-shirt and jeans running through the living room and escaped through the main gate.
At about 8:30am on Sunday, January 13, 2019, the house boy, who was later arrested, and the son tried opening Mrs. Asante’s door but found it locked, and therefore called the driver.
The driver of the victim, according to the police, found the keys to the house at the entrance of the gate when he went there upon receiving the call, and used same to open the deceased’s door and found her lying supine in a pool of blood.
Investigators who were assigned to the case after the complaint was lodged, collected semen found in her, finger prints and other evidence at the scene.
Richard Kwabena Kwakye has since confessed to the crime and named Dominic Owusu as his accomplice, but the latter has denied any involvement.
Investigations are still ongoing to determine the motive behind the murder, leaving GPHA stunned and saddened by the loss of one of their valuable employees, the Marketing and Public Relations Manager of the Authority.
This new development in the matter which has travelled over three years, is said to have a link with a top hierarchy of the company as the prime suspect purportedly mentioned.
Meanwhile, the new suspects have been arraigned and remanded by a Tema District Court to assist with further investigations as police press on to ascertain the rationale behind the heinous crime.
They have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder contrary to Section 23(1) and 40 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) and murder contrary to Section 46 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
This come after the two persons who were earlier standing trial when the incident occurred were discharged by the court.
When the case was called on Monday, the prosecution informed the Tema District Court that they were withdrawing the charges levelled against the previous accused persons based on advice from the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.
According to prosecution, the court should therefore, discharge the accused persons, namely Christian Agyei, 22, house boy and Amos Apraku, driver of the deceased who were facing committal proceedings.
While the accused persons were leaving the court room, the police on the other hand took positions at the court premises and escorted them into a waiting vehicle to the police headquarters.
By Vincent Kubi