Father of one of the murdered Takoradi kidnapped girls, Francis Bentum has raised doubt over the remains of the four kidnapped girls who were taken to the Sekondi High Court today, November 3, 2020.
Father of Priscilla Bentum told Citi News that the Pathologist, Superintendent Dr. Osei Owusu-Afriyie who brought the remains is new to the case and also condemned why the court did not allow the families to also view the remains which were displayed in a separate room at the court.
The remains of the four murdered Takoradi kidnapped girls in the custody of the Police Service were today presented in four caskets at the Sekondi High Court.
This follows a request to the court by the seven member-jury in the murder case against the two accused Nigerians, Sam Udoetuk Wills, and John Orji.
The seven member-jury upon their return to the courtroom after watching the remains in a different room asked the pathologist “why they could not see any sign of ligature on the remains as he claimed there were some on the bones in his previous evidence to the court?”
The pathologist, Supt Dr. Osei Owusu-Afriyie, explained that because there were no soft tissues.
“The test we conducted indicated there were ligatures.”
The counsel for Samuel Udoetuk Wills who is the first accused, George Essiful-Ansah, in his cross-examination of the Pathologist, said it seemed after looking at the bones, they were of the same height.
The pathologist, Superintendent said again that because there were no soft tissues one might think the skeletons were of the same height.
“However, when the bones are measured you could detect that they are of different heights”, the Pathologist indicated.
The Presiding Judge, Justice Richard Adjei-Frimpong also asked “From your observation will you say that the ligature was from an external source”
The Pathologist answered in the affirmative and said if it were to be mass suicide it would have not been concealed.
“But in this instance, there was obvious concealment. The nature of the tying indicated it was from an external source,” he added.
