A new twist has developed in the alleged kidnapping of a 28-year-old woman who went missing in Takoradi on September 16, 2021.
According to the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, the woman identified as Josephine Panyin Mensah, per preliminary investigations was not pregnant as was earlier reported.
Josephine who failed to return home after going for an early morning walk was said to be nine months pregnant when she went missing.
However, Mr Darko-Mensah in an interview with Kessben FM, following the reports of her reappearance in Axim, says preliminary reports presented to him by the Bureau of National Investigations, coupled with the account of a medical officer indicates she was never pregnant.
“Yesterday, the BNI sent me a report that she has been found and is currently at the Axim Government Hospital where she was receiving medical attention. However, their preliminary investigation indicates that the story was just a mere fabrication. They suspect that this whole story was fake and that the medical officer who looked at her said she is not pregnant and has never been pregnant,” he told Accra-based Kessben FM.
The Minister who is the Chairman of the Regional Security Coordinating Council stated that investigations so far suggested that the pregnancy story may have been fabricated.
Josephine was reported to the police as missing on the September 16, with later reports indicating that some alleged kidnappers got in touch with her family to demand a ransom for her return.
She was found by a carpenter in Axim on Tuesday, September 21, 2021, and was said to be unable to speak from trauma.
She is reported to have requested for a pen and a paper through which she communicated her ordeal to the people who found her.
According the carpenter, a traumatized Josephine informed him through writing that she went into forced labour when the kidnappers grabbed her. He further stated that the baby died and was taken away from her.
Her family and security officers were later contacted and she was sent to a health facility at Axim for medical attention.
source: Ghana Web