8 Witnesses for Takoradi ‘pregnant’ woman trial

• Posted on December 16, 2021December 16, 2021
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Eight witnesses will give testimony in the case of the supposed heavily pregnant woman in Takoradi, Josephine Panyin Mensah, who allegedly faked her kidnap and claimed her fresh baby was taken away.

The Circuit Court ‘A’ in Takoradi, presided over by His Honour Michael Ampadu, will commence the much-talked-about trial from January 6, 2022.

The eight witnesses will include three medical doctors, the husband of the accused person as well as her mother.

This was revealed by the prosecutor Supt. Emmanuel Basintele in his disclosures to the court to end the Case Management Conference (CMC) yesterday.

He mentioned the names of the witnesses as Michael Simons, the husband; Agnes Essel, the accused person’s mother; Michael Prah, a native of Axim and Ebenezer Nyame, also a native of Axim.

The rest include Dr. George Peprah of the Takoradi Hospital; Dr. Jerry James Abrokwa, Medical Officer at the Axim Government Hospital; Dr. Samuel Agyemang, a Gynaecologist with the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Sekondi and Detective Inspector Anfel Archims.

The prosecutor disclosed to the court that Detective Inspector Archims will tender in a police wireless message declaring that the accused was missing, together with her photograph.

He will also tender in an order from a District Magistrate Court for the disclosure of information from MTN Ghana and cell phone numbers among others.

Court Decision  

After the prosecutor’s full disclosures to the court, the presiding judge, His Honour Ampadu indicated that the case was a ‘public interest’ one and so it was prudent to expedite action on it.

He then indicated that the case will be heard every Thursday effective January 6, 2022. However, if there were some unforseen circumstances which will not allow the case to heard on a particular Thursday, it will be heard on the Tuesday preceding the scheduled date.

Accused Counsel

The counsel for the accused, Fiifi Buckman urged the court to overlook public pressure and requested for a change in the next adjourned date.

The judge however, maintained that they needed to expedite action on the case adding, “So the next adjourned date is January 6, for the full trial to start.”

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.

Accused Speaks

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.

According to Josephine Panyin Mensah, who has told the police she is 27 years, she bought the silicon belly at the Takoradi Market Circle at GH¢30.00 but threw it into the bush while on the Takoradi-Agona Nkwanta trunk road when she was faking her kidnapping.

The accused person also admitted that the MTN number 0599601438 through which the supposed kidnappers spoke to the mother, Agnes Essel aka Aunty Aggie, was her own old SIM card which she later discarded.

These revelations were contained in the accused person’s caution statement.

Doctor’s Examination

The doctors who conducted examination on the accused at the Axim Government Hospital told police that they did not notice any postpartum sign.

The doctors stated that the accused had not given birth within six days that she went missing and resurfaced, and confirmed that no mark of violence was also noticed on the accused.

On September 21, 2021, the accused was discharged from the Axim Hospital after she was attended to by Clinical Psychologists.

The police then took the accused person to Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Sekondi where she was again examined by doctors who also concluded that accused did not give birth to any baby within the six days that she went missing and resurfaced.

The doctors added that no mark of violence was detected on the accused.

Records at the Takoradi Hospital, also called European Hospital, where the accused claimed she attended antenatal care, revealed that on September 11, 2020, she attended gynaecological clinic with complaints of lower abdominal pain and had pelvic ultrasound which showed that she had pelvic inflammatory disorder.

From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi