The victims
A cross section of women in Takoradi used the celebration of World Women’s Day last Friday to mount pressure on the security agencies to help bring back the three girls who had been kidnapped in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis.
They ordered the police to go the ‘extra mile’ to ensure that the victims, namely Ruth Love Quayson, Priscilla Blessing Bentum and Priscilla Koranchie, are brought home safe and sound.
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE in separate interviews, some of the women insisted that despite the arrest of the prime suspect in the case, Samuel Udoetuk Wills, the security agencies were still delaying in helping to rescue the girls.
Awuradjoa Quayson, a sister to one of the missing girls, Ruth, pointed out that her sister’s disappearance was adversely affecting the family.
“Even when your child is sick, imagine the trauma you go through as a parent. How much more kidnapping? My mother has not been able to sleep from the very day the alleged kidnapper got hold of my sister”, she disclosed.
“It has not been easy for the past months, knowing that our relative is there, but we are not hearing from her,” she added.
Nana Ajoa Hagan, a member of Concerned Mothers Association in Takoradi and a broadcast journalist, regretted that as women were being celebrated globally, the mothers of the three missing girls were still ‘grieving’.
“On this day as we celebrate women globally, we stand with the families of these three girls and we are saying that the first and second ladies of our country and all women in Parliament should join us to put pressure on the security agencies to help bring back our Taadi girls”, she stressed.
Mrs. Mildred Siabi-Mensah, a member of the association, explained that the Women’s Day is celebrated to among other things secure women’s rights and build more equitable societies.
“We know the police are doing their best but we want them to go the extra mile to help bring back the missing girls to their parents”, he added.
Victims
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.
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.
Priscilla Mantebea Koranchie, aged 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.
Suspect
Meanwhile, the 28-year-old Nigerian suspect, who escaped police cells in Takoradi but was rearrested few days later, is before a Takoradi Magistrate Court on the charges of escaping from lawful custody, causing damage and resisting arrest.
He has been taken into prison custody to reappear on April 1, 2019, to produce his witness.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi