Woman Sends Dead Baby to Church

POLICE AT Kotobabi station on Sunday arrested a 41 year-old trader, Madam Joanna Ama-Amusu, a resident of Sarpeiman, a village near Dome, outside Accra who had smuggled the mortal remains of a day-old baby into the End-Time Resurrection Ministries International Church, headed by Jesus Abrantie, during worship hour.

The Police arrested her following a tip off from church workers who spotted the dead baby wrapped in a black polythene bag and put in a bucket during praises and worship.

Police sources told the Chronicle yesterday that Joanna exhumed the baby?s body without the knowledge of the parents with the hope that Jesus Abrantie, the charismatic minister whose followers believe him to have the gift of resurrection powers, would resurrect the child.

According to our source, Joanna who is a neighbour of the baby?s parents had gone to greet its mother upon hearing that she had given birth.

But on reaching the house she was told that the baby had died an hour earlier, and so asked for the whereabouts of the mortal remains of the baby but was told it had been buried.

The source further narrated that Joanna then suggested to the couple that the child be exhumed and brought to Jesus Abrantie who is supposed to have the power to resurrect, to invoke his powers to resurrect the baby to which the father objected. But on her own discretion Joana went ahead to exhume the baby unknown to the bereaved couple and brought it to the End-Time Resurrection Ministries at Kotobabi, a suburb of Accra.

In an interview with Kofi Afriye Amoako-Ayim, alias Jesus Abrantie, pastor of the church at the Kotobabi Police station yesterday, he admitted the incident saying, ?Prayer was ongoing after the praise and worship when I heard someone shouting saying ?I would tell the truth,? I did not bother to know what was going on but as the noise increased,? Jesus Abrantie said, ?I instructed the ushers to go over and bring her to a place that she would have been attended to.?

When they got there,? Jesus Abrantie went on, ? they saw the mortal remains of the baby wrapped in a black polythene bag and placed in a bucket beside her. Upon seeing this I ordered that the lady be taken to the police station?.

Pushed to tell whether he had ever resurrected any dead person, Jesus Abrantie answered in the affirmative, giving Accra and Kumasi as cities where he had resurrected bodies this year.

Asked what he thinks was the motive behind Joanna?s action, the confident-looking young pastor, surrounded by his aides, said some evil spirits that actually intend destroying his ministry might have used her, adding, ?if we had not spotted the baby she would have left the mortal remains in the church and that would have been a serious case against the church.

When Chronicle contacted the baby?s father who was also at the police station yesterday, he said he had no knowledge about Joanna?s plan and refused to give further comment on the issue.

Meanwhile Joanna is not a member of Jesus Abrantie?s church; according to her she is a member of the Church of Christ at Sarpeiman.

She will be making her first appearance in court this morning.