The husband of Josephine Panyin Mensah, the Takoradi woman alleged to have feigned pregnancy and claimed her baby was taken away by her kidnappers, appeared before the Takoradi Circuit Court ‘A’ yesterday as the first witness in the case.
Michael Simons is one of the eight witnesses expected to give testimony in the much-talked-about trial which commenced at the court presided over by His Honour, Michael Ampadu yesterday.
In his evidence-in-chief, the husband told the court that he physically saw his wife pregnant.
This was after the lawyer for the accused, Fiifi Buckman had asked the witness whether he suspected the wife was pregnant or he knew Josephine was pregnant, during cross examination.
“I knew my wife was pregnant,” he told the court.
The lawyer then asked, “Did you see the physical stomach of your wife without a cloth?”
The husband replied, “Yes I physically saw her pregnant stomach.”
The husband then narrated to the court that the state of the wife’s stomach currently is different from when she was pregnant and that currently the stomach is flat.
He also indicated that they stayed together as couple for two and half years before the wife got pregnant.
Alleged Contradiction
The prosecutor in the case, Supt Emmanuel Basintele, in his re-examination asked the husband whether he was aware that his statement that he physically saw his wife pregnant contradicted with what he stated in paragraph nine of his witness statement.
“You stated that you did not see the accused’s belly from the sixth month?” the prosecutor asked the first witness in the case.
At this point, the lawyer for the accused, Fiifi Buckman, intervened and told the court that the question was not a re-examinable one.
The court upheld what the lawyer said and indicated that whether there was a contradiction or not, it was up to the court to interpret according to the law.
Another Witness
The next person to give testimony in the case was Agnes Essel, the accused person’s mother. She said she was not around when her daughter gave her statement to the police.
She also asserted that the police told her to say her daughter was not pregnant otherwise they would lock her up, adding “And I was locked up till the following morning.”
The case was adjourned to Thursday, January 13, 2022.
Preferred Charges
Josephine Mensah, whose alleged self-kidnapping sparked public outrage after sending the police on a wild goose chase, was charged with publication of false news and deceit of public officer.
She pleaded not guilty to the charges when she first appeared before the court.
Facts of Case
According to the prosecution, the accused resides at Old John Sabbah Road in Takoradi, and on September 16, 2021, at about 4.05pm, Michael Simons of Columbia, Takoradi, who is the husband of the accused, informed the police that his wife who was 10 months pregnant and lived with her mother, Agnes Essel, left home for a health walk but could not return.
Ransom Call
The prosecution said the mother of the accused also added that same day at about 3:30pm, an unknown caller called her on MTN number 0599601438 and she only heard the voice of accused crying that she had been kidnapped and taken to an unknown location.
In the course of investigations, the police discovered that the said number called from Agona Nkwanta in the Ahanta West District and was registered in the accused person’s own name. Police trailed the number there but did not find the accused.
The prosecutor continued that on September 21, 2021, at about 11:15am, while a massive search was in progress, police had Intel which indicated that accused had been found at Axim, the Nzema East Municipality of the region.
The police in Axim was informed and the accused was conveyed from the premises of the Jehovah Witnesses Kingdom Hall to Axim Government Hospital for treatment.
The prosecution told the court that the accused later narrated that she was pregnant and kidnapped during a walk on September 16, 2021, at about 4:30am, by unknown people who covered her mouth with cloth, making her unconscious.
She added that she met about 12 other unknown women kidnapped by her captors and they were all killed except her, and that she gave birth to a baby girl and afterwards fell unconscious for the second time and had no idea how she got to Axim.
Silicon Belly
The accused later indicated that she bought a pregnancy prosthetics, popularly called silicon belly, which she was wearing to make her look pregnant.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi