Cecilia Dapaah theft case: Attorney-General files fresh charges against accused persons
State prosecutors have withdrawn the charges against the seven accused persons in the case in which money and items worth millions of cedis were allegedly stolen from the residence of former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffour.
Advertisement
The seven — Patience Botwe, Sarah Agyei, Benjamin Sowah, Malik Dauda, Christiana Achab, Job Pomary, and Yahaya Sumaila — were set free by the circuit court where they were facing various charges of conspiracy, stealing, dishonestly receiving and money laundering.
That was after the prosecution led by an Assistant State Attorney (ASA), Akosua Agyepomaa Agyemang, withdrew all the charges against them in line with Section 59 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1960 (Act 30).
Fresh charges
However, the seven have been slapped with the same charges at the High Court in Accra.
The accused persons, who were set free by the circuit court presided over by Afia Owusuaa Appiah, were immediately re-arrested by police officers.
Prosecution facts
According to the new charge sheet, on October 6, 2022, Mr Kuffour who had left his house at about 7:30a.m. on a planned trip to Akyem Oda returned home unexpectedly after the trip was cancelled.
When he entered his house, he was alarmed by an unusual noise in the house from the direction of the bedroom of the couple.
As he walked towards their bedroom, he noticed that the door was opened.
Other Trending Stories
He did not find anyone in the bedroom, but he noticed that the door to a store room in the bedroom was also opened.
When he entered the store room, he saw Botwe hiding behind the door.
Botwe could not offer any explanation for her presence in the room.
With the assistance of his driver and the policeman on duty in the house, they arrested Botwe and sent her to the Tesano Police Station.
Mr Kuffour later realised that five different men's suits valued at $500 each and five pieces of Kente cloth valued at GH¢15,000 each had been stolen.
He called his wife who had travelled to Kumasi to inform her of the incident.
Return
Cecilia Abena Dapaah returned to Accra on October 10, 2022 to find that their bedroom had been ransacked.
In her statement to the police, Dapaah stated that it took her a couple of days to arrange the things in the room and find out the items which had been lost.
After going through her things, she stated that she found several personal items, including those of her deceased brother, missing.
The personal items included a collection of jewellery she had kept for about 35 years totalling $95,000, various types of Kente cloth, Hollandaise and GTP cloths with a total value of about GH¢56,000, dresses valued at about GH¢20,000, various types of handbags, totalling $35,500 and different types of perfumes valued at $1400.
“The complainants found out that they had lost a bag containing about $200,000 which belonged to Dorcas Akua Owiredua, who is Daniel Osei Kuffour's niece.
Dorcas had sent the money to her uncle Osei Kuffour to construct a project for her.
Advertisement
“They also found out that another bag containing €300.000 which belonged to Kuffour was also missing,” the prosecution said.
It added that an amount of GH¢300,000 being the contribution made by the family of Ms. Dapaah for her mother's funeral and an amount of GH¢50,000 which belonged to Cecilia Abena Dapaah were all missing.
“The complainants further stated that an amount of $210.000 was missing from a box that contained about $800,000 belonging to Cecilia Abena Dapaah's deceased brother which was sent to her together with some regalia for safe keeping following his death,” It added.