The families of the four murdered Takoradi girls are demanding copies of the DNA reports from the state, to study and assure them that indeed the skeletal remains the police discovered were indeed those of their missing children.
This was contained in a press conference held at the request of the Concerned Mothers Movement and with support from the families of the murdered girls. The chairperson of the Movement, Josephine Amu insisted that it should not be hard for the state to provide copies of the DNA results if the state has nothing to hide.
The families also used the occasion to request from the state, support to give the girls a befitting burial, if indeed the DNA results are theirs.
“We believe the families have not received enough support in terms of helping them fight the trauma they are going through. We believe that by now the state should have provided them with some professional counselors to move them from their denial state into acceptance state,” she added.
The chairperson also asked whether it would be possible for the state to support the families financially, or provide some medical services for them. According to her some of the parents are hypertensive due to the trauma.
In a rather sober atmosphere, father of Priscilla Bentum, Mr. Francis Bentum insisted that as stated by former CID director, COP Tiwaa Addo Danquah, the girls are alive.
“It cannot be the case that the director of CID for Ghana can say something which is not true. It cannot be the case that the director of CID of Ghana will speak without cross-checking her facts. No, it cannot happen. So, I will continue to demand the children from her,” charged.
He however stated that he will only accept the death of the children if the two Nigerians are killed in his presence. He stressed that culprits should not be blindfolded, and must be killed in his presence.
The two suspects – Samuel Udoetuk Wills and John Orji – were on Friday, March 5, 2021 sentenced to death by hanging by a Sekondi High Court judge Justice Adjei Frimpong.
Reacting to a question that the police has stated that they [family] can get a copy of the DNA report only through a court order, grandfather of Ruth Abekah Emmanuel Cobbinah averred that the police will be acting in bad faith if it still insists on a court order.
“When the police came to pick evidence in our house was it by a court order. When we had to be travelling back and forth to Accra for identification of the bones, when we had to go to the police station for DNA samples to be taken was it by a court court? So why will the police want to act this way? We cooperated with them so it is their term to reciprocate.”
He stressed on his insistence that there is something wrong with the bones. “How can you show us bones that are 60 years old. The pathologist, we asked him when were the kids killed, he said he does not know, what instrument was used to kill the children he said he does not know. That, you show us skeletons and the panties are new. That the thread in the beads is new. Bones that are six months old. You cannot treat us like we are kids.”