Pregnant woman rescued from ritual murder

A 22-year-old pregnant Ghanaian woman, Abena Dansowaa, who was allegedly sold by her boyfriend, Kwabena Boateng, to a Nigerian for ritual purposes, has been rescued by the Lagos State Police. Confirming this to the Daily Graphic in a telephone interview at Akyem Oda, the Lagos State Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), Superintendent Alice Awudu, said upon a tip-off, the police stormed the residence of the suspect, John Bull, alias J.B. where some people were performing rituals on Abena after which she was to be murdered. Throwing more light on the issue in a telephone conversation, Abena said about one-and-a-half months ago, her boyfriend went with her to Lagos with the intention of transacting business with his partners in Nigeria. She said she did not know that she had been sold to a Lagos businessman when Boateng left her with J.B., after collecting large sums of money in Euro and dollar denominations and absconded, leaving her to her fate. Abena, who claimed to be a native of Obo-Kwahu, said before leaving for Lagos, she had stayed with Boateng at Adenta in Accra for some time, during which she became pregnant. She said her Lagos host gave her the assurance that her boyfriend had left for Ghana and would return to Nigeria soon to take her back home. She thanked God and the Lagos police for rescuing her from imminent death. Abena gave her father's name as Mr. Kwaku Kissi who resides with her mother, Maame Abena Serwaa, at Kwahu-Praso. Abena, who is seven months pregnant, stated that she was the first born of the five children her parents had. She said her boyfriend hailed from Boankra in Ashanti and his father was from Asante Juaben. When the Daily Graphic contacted the victim's father, Mr Kissi, at Kwahu Praso on phone, he said his daughter had been missing for the past two months and all efforts to trace her had proved futile until Supt. Awudu contacted him on phone last Saturday to tell him that she had been found in Lagos. Mr Kissi said he did not know his daughter's boyfriend until about three months ago when Abena introduced him to her parents at Kwahu Praso, after which Boateng promised to come back to perform the customary marriage rites later on. Supt. Awudu, who had known Chief Supt. Ben Atadana, the Oda Divisional Police Commander since the United Nations Mission in East Timor in 2000, contacted him also on telephone to inform him about the plight of the young lady. When the Daily Graphic contacted Chief Supt. Atadana at Oda, he confirmed the telephone conversation with Supt Awudu, who had assured him that she would pass the information through the INTERPOL process in Nigeria for the young woman to be repatriated to Ghana. At the moment Abena is in the custody of Supt Awudu, who is taking care of her in Lagos. Meanwhile, the suspect is helping the Lagos State Police in their investigations while Boateng's whereabouts is unknown.