The victims
The Ghana Police Service has sent a Clinical Psychologist from the Police Hospital in Accra, to the parents of the three kidnapped victims in their various homes in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis to counsel them.
This follows a request by the parents of the three kidnapped girls that they needed to be counseled.
They therefore appealed to the Ghana Police Service to help them undergo some counseling in order to overcome the trauma they are going through.
The parents made the appeal when a delegation from the police administration led by the Director-General of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) DCOP MaameYaaTiwaa Addo- Danquah, visited them.
The Clinical Psychologist, ASP Dr. Foster Nanewortor, visited the first victim Priscilla Blessing Bentum’s parents and then proceeded to victim Ruth Love Quayson’s parents and concluded the first visit at Priscilla Mantabea Kuranchie’s parent’s house.
ASP Dr Nanewortor took the parents through issues they could use to psyche themselves up in this difficult time.
He again encouraged them and reassured them of getting their children back.
Speaking to journalists later, ASP Dr Nanewortor indicated that the parents had been traumatized by the experience over the period.
He noted that the job of the police was not only about investigating the crime, but alleviating the sufferings of the victims’ parents and families.
“So as Clinical Psychologists, we have visited the families and spoken with them on the things they are going through and we will use specific techniques which involve trauma reduction and crisis intervention”, he disclosed.
He continued “We’ll use such techniques after assessing each of the family members and we are trying to help them cope and to alleviate the effect of the trauma that they are going through”.
The Kidnapped Cases
Between the months of August and December, last year, three kidnap cases were reported to the police in Takoradi.
The first victim, Priscilla Blessing Bentum, 21, a third year student of the University of Education, Winneba, lived with her parents at Diabene, near Takoradi.
She was kidnapped on August 17, 2018, at Kansaworodo.
Her parents paid a ransom of GH¢4,500 to the kidnappers, but their daughter was not freed so they later filed a complaint to the police in Takoradi.
The second victim, Ruth Love Quayson, 18, had just completed Fijai Senior High School in Sekondi and lived with her parents at Diabene, near Sekondi.
She was kidnapped on December 4, 2018, at Butumegyabu (BU) junction in Takoradi.
Her parents paid GH¢1,300 to the kidnappers before they made a report to the police.
The third victim Priscilla Mantebea Koranchie, 15, a first-year student of Sekondi College, lived with her parents at West Fijai, near Sekondi.
She was kidnapped on December 21, 2018, at a spot near Nkroful junction.
The parents also paid GH¢1,000 to the kidnappers before they made a report to the police.
One Suspect Arrested
On December 22, 2018, at about 4am, accused person, Samuel Udoetuk Wills, a 28-year-old Nigerian national, was arrested in connection with the kidnappings.
He was arrested from his hideout on the outskirts of Kansaworodo, near Takoradi through intensive investigations by the police.
According to the police, catalogues of calls between the accused and the victims were analyzed and police established his link to the three cases.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi