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Families of Takoradi girls fail to secure bones …after meeting Police Administration

Three families of the Takoradi girls declared dead by the Police are demanding the remains of the girls from the Police administration for further DNA analysis.

They made the demand at a meeting with the Inspector General of Police, Mr James Oppong-Boanuh, at the Police Headquarters in Accra on Thursday.

The family members are that of Ruth Abaka, Priscilla Bentum and Ruth Love Quayson.

However, the family of Priscilla Kuranchie was not present at the meeting.

The 16-member delegation from Takoradi, in the Western Region, was led by Michael Grant Hayford, the spokesperson who said the visit was to see the remains of the girls at the Police Hospital mortuary, seek second opinion on the DNA results, demand on the status of the police officers who were alleged to have aided the escape of the prime suspect, Samuel Uduatuk Wills and also congratulate the IGP for handling the issue professionally.

Mr Hayford, after a closed door meeting between the families and the police hierarchy that lasted about two hours, told journalists that the visit was to demand for the DNA results, and to get the skeleton for another DNA analysis, but were ask to go through the legal means.

He said the Police told them that without a court order, the results or the remains could not be released to them.

At the Police Hospital mortuary in Accra, where the families were allowed to have a view at the remains of the girls, Mr Emmanuel Ansah Kobinah, grandfather of Ruth Abaka, said the skeletal remains were not that of his relation; Nana Adjoa Quayson shared similar view, saying that the remains were not that of her sister, because they looked like three-year old skeletons.

Mr Hayford said the family would meet and decide on the next line of action.

The Director of the Police Public Affairs, Superintendent of Police (Supt) Sheila Abayie-Buckman, briefing journalists said, the IGP received information that the family members of three of the girls wanted to pay him and the Police management board a visit, and demand for the remains for a second opinion DNA test.

The Director stated that the IGP apologised to the families for any pronouncement made by any police officer that was in bad state to them, and told them they were at liberty to seek a second opinion, but had to follow the legal procedure.

Supt Abayie-Buckman said the IGP also assured the delegation that the policemen who were alleged to have aided the escape of the suspect were currently undergoing Police Service procedure, and any officer found culpable would be dealt with according to the Police Service regulations.

The IGP, she said, appealed to the families to support the police to seek justice for the girls, assuring them that investigations into the case had not closed.

BY ANITA NYARKO-YIRENKYI

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