Court acquits father over stolen daughter, 3

An electrical engineer who was accused of stealing his three-year-old daughter  and  the belongings of  his wife has been acquitted and discharged by an Accra Circuit Court.

Nathaniel Kabu now known as Abdullah Ahmed and  based in the United Arab Emirates(UEA) was said to have tricked his wife with whom he was travelling  from the UAE to Ghana via Nigeria  and absconded with their daughter back to the UEA in 2013

He was also alleged to have bolted with his wife’s luggage at the Aflao border. The prosecution’s case was that Kabu invited his wife and daughter to join him in the UAE in 2012

 Following the wife’s arrival, the couple allegedly  had numerous arguments because she (complainant)suspected  Kabu of engaging in extra marital affair.

 However, after all evidence was adduced before the court, the trial judge Mrs Abena Oppong Adjin – Doku pointed out the inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case and acquitted and discharged Kabu on the charge of stealing.

In passing judgement on July 6,2017,  the presiding judge said both Kabu and his wife lived together in Abu Dhabi and exercised equal parental control over their daughter at the same time.

She acknowledged that though Kabu’s wife had been deprived access to her daughter for a considerably period, that alone is not sufficient ground for a charge of child stealing.

 She said, “The law as I know it is that one cannot steal something he owns and which is also in his possession and under his control.”

Mrs Adjin-Doku said the case was purely an issue of custody between the couple and advised the complainant to take the steps  to invoke the appropriate civil remedies.

 With regard to the stealing of  the luggage of  the complainant, the judge alluded to the inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case, adding that “where the evidence of the prosecution contains the seeds of its own destruction, the accused cannot be found guilty”.

 She, therefore, found the accused not guilty on that count as well and acquitted and discharged him.