Grandmother arrested for selling grandchild for GH¢8,000

A 45-year-old grandmother and two other persons have been arrested for allegedly selling her two-month-old grandchild for GH¢8,000 at Anyaa in the Ga Central municipality of the Greater Accra Region.

Grandma Comfort Okai is said to have taken the baby from her 29-year-old daughter and sold her through a third party to a childless woman.

After taking the baby, the childless woman, in addition to paying GH¢8,000, rented a room for the baby's mother and her seven children and also bought a new refrigerator for them.

The woman who bought the baby and her agent are in police custody for investigations.

Burden

Confirming the arrest, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Accra Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mrs Effia Tenge, said on June 3, 2020, the Anyaa Police received a report that a woman had sold her grandchild.

When Madam Okai was arrested, she told the police that she had sold the child to free herself from child care burden, since her daughter already had seven children with different men.

Mrs Tenge said Madam Okai told the police that she had been weighed down by the burden of caring for her daughter's children, for which reason she took the decision to sell the eighth child.

Baby buyer found

Madam Okai, according to the police, sold the baby through a 55-year-old woman who concealed the identity of the buyer but rented accommodation for the mother of the baby and her children and also provided a refrigerator for them.

Mrs Tenge said the woman who acted as an agent initially told the police that the baby was with her childless sister in Takoradi in the Western Region and then later took the police to Ashaiman and Odorkor, both in the Greater Accra Region, in search of the buyer.

After taking the police on the fruitless journey, she finally led them to recover the baby from the buyer at Dansoman in Accra.

The buyer and the agent were subsequently arrested to assist with investigations.