The Police have arrested three persons for questioning on possible conspiracy charge for their role in the alleged kidnapping of Josephine Panyin Mensah, a resident of Takoradi.
The Police said investigations suggested that Ms Mensah, who has become a suspect now, may have conspired with other persons over her possible planned disappearance.
The family of Ms Mensah announced that she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy when she was kidnapped, while going for a walk in her neighbourhood on the dawn of Thursday, September 16.
However, following the reappearance of Josephine at Axim on Tuesday September 21, the Police in a statement said the medical report on her indicated that she was not pregnant as reported.
The fact about whether Josephine Panyin Mensah’s alleged pregnancy was real remains a conundrum.
When she was found in Axim, several miles away from Takoradi where she disappeared, she was mute, unkempt and without any sign of the said pregnancy.
Claims that she delivered on the same day she was allegedly kidnapped and the baby taken away by the kidnappers have been put under scrutiny.
Some members of the public, including Josephine Panyin Mensah’s family and neighbours, insist she was pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
In view of that, police are currently counting on medical officers at Takoradi for a second opinion on the alleged pregnancy of Josephine Panyin Mensah, the woman alleged to have been kidnapped last week with her 9-month pregnancy.
The police are relying on the medical expertise of health officials to unravel the situation.
According to Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Kwesi Ofori, the Acting Director-General of Public Affairs, owing to the contention, the police are seeking a second opinion at another health facility and will not hesitate to seek a third opinion or even employ the services of the country’s premier health facility, the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to conduct tests to ascertain the claims of her alleged pregnancy.
He said during interrogation, Ms Mensah mentioned the European (Takoradi) Hospital, in Takoradi, as where she did reviews and assessment.
However, medical records at the facility suggested that she visited the Hospital without a pregnancy in October, last year.
It said on Tuesday, September 21, 2021, at about 9:30am when Ms Mensah reappeared, she was immediately sent to the Axim Government Hospital for medical attention.
“Meanwhile, adequate measures were in place to ensure that Ms Mensah was safe even as investigations continued”, he stated in a statement.
“Following her disappearance more than 40 police officers were assigned to track her whereabouts on a 24-hour basis with regular updates to the family. “More worrying is the fact that for a number of years the Regional Command has recorded several false kidnapping cases where people conspired to create ‘self-kidnapping’ incidents to make money out of ransoms,” the statement said.
A team, with support from the National Headquarters, had, consequently, been put together to quell the emerging crime in the Western Region.
The statement gave the assurance that Police would continue to revise security strategies to protect the people of the Region and the rest of the country.
