Rejoice Yabani, mother of the late Joana Deladem Yabani, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) student allegedly murdered by her boyfriend, has revealed that she stopped working following her daughter’s death.

Speaking in an interview sighted by GhanaWeb on X on May 10, 2026, about the impact of the tragedy on the family and their business, she explained that Joana played a significant role in promoting the company whenever she returned home.

'She fell in love with a man with the heart of a beast' - Mother of KNUST murder victim

“When she comes home, she helps promote our company. We were even planning to make her the face of the company because she would market the products, and people genuinely liked her,” she said.

According to her, the emotional pain of constantly being asked about Joana by clients forced her to withdraw from work for more than a year.

“So, I’ve stopped working for almost one and a half years now since the incident happened. Whenever we went out, clients would ask, ‘Where is Joana?’ Some of them didn’t even know she was the one who died on the KNUST campus,” she recounted.

“They would ask, ‘Where is my friend?’ and I would break down in tears. So, I stopped going out and stopped working for some time. It’s only now that we are beginning to revive the company again because we were all devastated,” she added.

Joana’s mother also expressed disappointment over some public comments made about her daughter after her death, insisting that Joana was kind and respectful.

“I don’t think she has been treated fairly at all. She was such a good person. It pains me that people who didn’t know her wrote all those things about her,” she said.

“I’m not using ‘she was’; she is still a good person. Wherever I go, people who knew her still say, ‘That’s your daughter,’” she added.

Background

The lifeless body of Joana Deladem Yabani, a final-year Biological Sciences student at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, was discovered on campus on February 27, 2025, near the Rehabilitation and Disability Centre.

KNUST student Joana Yabani laid to rest amid grief and outrage

Preliminary police investigations implicated her alleged boyfriend, Daniel Tuffour, who was subsequently arrested and is currently standing trial over her death.

Joana is survived by her parents and eight siblings.

I have stopped working since Joana died because when we go out, our clients who don't know she is the one who was murdered ask about her whereabouts, then I start crying.💔#VOKLive pic.twitter.com/9yDnohqkGB

— 𝐕𝐎𝐊 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 (@Thevokofficial) May 10, 2026