2 Nigerians in court for alleged kidnapping, raping of employer's daughter

Two Nigerians accused of kidnapping and raping their employer's daughter, aged 19, at Aflao, have been remanded in police custody by a Circuit Court on Monday at Keta.

They are George Andrew, aged 28, unemployed, and Maxwell Peter, aged 34, a trader.

They were jointly charged for conspiracy, kidnapping and assault, but Andrew had an additional separate charge for rape, with Peter getting an additional separate one for abetment.

Their pleas were not taken and they would be brought before the Court again on September 16, this year.

Mr Michael Akemo, a Detective Police Inspector of Aflao, prosecuting, told the Court, presided over by Mr Kwame Poulley, that both suspects from Delta State, Nigerian, lived in the same room at Akatsi, in the Akatsi South District of the Volta Region.

The complainant, Madam Precious Mansaray, a Sierra Leonean woman, who is the victim's mother, operates a restaurant at the Togolese side of the Border with Ghana, but lived in Awakorme, a suburb of Aflao in Ghana with her family.

Mr. Akemo said the complainant at a time came into contact with the suspects and in March this year, engaged them as salesmen in her restaurant and subsequently accommodated them in her house in which she live with her family.

He said on April 21, this year, Mansaray took her family and the accused out for Easter picnic at Aflao Low-Cost beach, during which the suspects requested to eat Pizza, then the victim also, and the complainant gave them GHC30 for the Italian traditional dish.

Andrew, Peter and the victim then left for the Pizza at a food joint at the beach, but all three failed to return even after sunset, making the complainant panic, having fruitlessly searched for them.

For over four months, the accused persons kept calling the complainant on various phone numbers, some Nigerian and others MTN, falsely directing her to one place or another, where she could find them.

Mr Akemo said the complainant accordingly travelled to Lome, Togo, then to Nigeria and back to Sunyani in Bono Region in Ghana on a goose chase, during which the two also demanded a 2.5 million Naira ransom to release the victim.

He said it was until August 8, this year, when for no apparent reason, the suspects brought the victim to Aflao, sent her to secretly spy on her mother, the complainant, enabling her to escape from their hand, and the two, sensing danger bolted before the victim could return with people to where they stood.

According to him, the victim then revealed that the suspects kidnapped her to Akatsi and that at the food joint for the Pizza, Andrew gave her a malt drink, only for her to regain her consciousness the following morning, finding herself naked in the suspects' room.

He said the accused persons then refused to let the victim go out the entire months of captivity, amidst being raped constantly by Andrew, who also took a nude picture of her and threatened to send it viral if she revealed their act or run away.

Mr Akemo said the accused persons were subsequently picked up at their Akatsi hideout by the police there and handed over to the Aflao Police, and pleaded the court remanded them in police custody for further investigations.