Gladys Bentum, mother of Priscilla Blessing Bentum, weeping during the press conference. INSETS: The victims (from top) Priscilla Mantebea Kuranchie, Priscilla Blessing Bentum, Ruth Love Quayson, Ruth Abakah
Family members of three out of the four girls kidnapped in Takoradi have rejected the police DNA report confirming the deaths of the missing girls.
They are insisting that the girls, whom the Police Administration officially confirmed on Monday night as dead after the much-talked-about DNA analysis, are alive.
The families have said they will demand an independent DNA analysis to confirm whether the girls are dead or alive.
According to them, their rejection of the report was based on their conviction that the girls were still alive as indicated by the Director of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) some months ago.
They said they were disappointed at the manner the police communicated the DNA report on Monday evening when the story was already in the media.
However, the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), James Oppong-Boanuh, in announcing the DNA report, had said the family had already been informed about the fact that the samples taken matched the human remains found.
Thus, the skulls and other human remains retrieved over a month ago by the forensic team of the Ghana Police Service at the hideout of the prime suspect in the case, Samuel Udoetuk Wills, were that of the missing girls, the IGP confirmed.
As a result, the police concluded that Priscilla Blessing Bentum, 21; Priscilla Mantebea Kuranchie, 18; Ruth Love Quayson, 18; and Ruth Abakah, 19, are deceased.
The IGP’s announcement has been met with rejection by the families of Quayson, Bentum and Abekah.
However, Alexander Kojo Kuranchie, father of Priscilla Mantebea Kuranchie, has said he has nothing to say about the DNA report and added that he was giving everything to God.
President’s Call
President Akufo-Addo did engage the families on telephone before the police made the matter become public.
DAILY GUIDE is privy to undisputed information that following the release of the DNA report to the National Security Council, the mode of breaking the sad news became an issue, a conundrum.
As an option, breaking the news on Tuesday was dropped for fear that it might be leaked to social media, which could cause the bereaved families further pains and also present officialdom as being insensitive.
That informed the Monday evening option but not before the family was sufficiently engaged and the news imparted to them in conformity with local norms.
The Ghana Police Service deployed four teams all towards a smooth and sensitive engagement with the families, DAILY GUIDE has gathered.
The most prominent of the elaborate arrangements was the involvement of the President who reportedly spoke to the heads of the families of the deceased girls save one.
For reasons not available to DAILY GUIDE, the Quaysons declined efforts made to reach out to them as part of the overall strategy in managing the sad information.
The President is reported to have been saddened by the development. No wonder he partook in the arrangement on how to break the news as if he foresaw the mischief of killjoys.
It is a sad chapter in the history of crime in the country but whose closure occasioned by the DNA report should prompt a reflection.
Later, Mr. Kuranchie reportedly confirmed that the President spoke to him but said, “I was surprised that the President called; though belated he is the father of the nation and I cannot begrudge him. I wish his call will have come earlier than this but all the same I am happy he called and God knows best.”
“I would like to thank President Akufo-Addo for his show of love in my trying moment. The police have been very supportive as well,” he added.
Later, Amos Kojo Obeng Tawiah, Uncle of Ruth Quayson, confirmed that the President indeed placed a call, through a senior police officer who was with the family moments after the police announced the results of the DNA test, to console them. However, he said, “The President’s phone call came too late and we are not ready to talk to him over this issue.”
Press Conference
At Diabene in the Takoradi Metropolis yesterday, there was uneasy calm as three of the families gathered to hold a news conference rejecting the notion that the girls are dead.
The Spokesperson for the families, Michael Hayford Grant, indicated that the results of the DNA test could not be accepted claiming that the police failed to make the process transparent.
He said that no report was shown to them apart from a verbal communication from the police adding “…and that was not the agreement with the police prior to the tests.”
“We will never believe what the police came to tell us. There is no truth in it. What shows that anything they said was true?” he insisted.
He said the family members would apply for an independent test on the remains to enable them come up to some conclusion on the matter.
Comfort Arhin
Later in an interview with DAILY GUIDE, Comfort Arhin, mother of Ruth Love Quayson, claimed that the police did not show respect to the family members by visiting them at 7:30 pm to inform them that their daughters were dead.
She also said, “On March 13, 2019 at about 9 pm while I was returning from church, the CID boss called to tell me that the kidnappers were demanding some huge amount of money and that the state would pay to get the girls back. So why should the police turn around to say the girls are dead?”
Ebenezer Cobbinah
Ebenezer Cobbinah, grandfather of Ruth Abakah, claimed when the girl was found missing on July 29, 2018, they reported the case to the police on the same day but nothing was done about it.
Francis Bentum
On his part, Francis Bentum, father of Priscilla Blessing Bentum, also pointed out that the time the police reported the case to them was wrong.
“You can imagine someone comes to inform you at about 7:30 pm that your child is dead, you will not be able to sleep the whole night and that was what happened to me and my wife on Monday,”he said.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Diabene