Missing Takoradi girls: A more experienced forensic opinion needed – Professor Akosa

A former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, is the latest to have added his voice to calls for another forensic opinion in the case of the missing Takoradi girls, ABC News can report.

Professor Akosa says a more experienced forensic opinion is required to authenticate the outcome of the DNA test conducted by the police.

The Police confirmed the death of Ruth Abakah, Priscilla Kuranchie, Ruth Love Quayson and Priscilla Blessing Bentum after a DNA examination conducted on some skulls found in a septic tank at the residence of one of the suspects turned out to be positive.

According to the results delivered by the Acting IGP, the skulls and other human remains retrieved over a month ago by the forensic team of the Ghana Police Service at the hideout of the prime suspect, Samuel Udoetuk Wills are that of the missing girls.

But speaking on the issue on Accra based Citi FM Tuesday, Prof. Badu Akosa, who is also a pathologist, said he was not convinced by the latest developments.

“I believe sincerely that this forensic evidence should be subjected to a more experienced opinion. I do not know the forensic scientist who performed this test but I believe that there are so many disjointed things in this discussion that I want a second opinion on this report. That is the only thing that will tie the ends of the case”, he opined.
He also expressed his disappointment over the way the police service handled the matter describing it as alarming.

“Clearly, these girls were abducted on different dates and as far as I am concerned even if it was the same team doing the work, it tells us there is virtually no proper police investigation in this country,” he said.

“I find it a little disconcerting especially that people could be abducted from different sites and at one point all the evidence point to the fact that they were in Nigeria and at another, they were all brought to one place,” he added.

He further intimated that because the body remains are the most important evidence at hand, there is a need for a more experienced forensic examination.

“As far as I am concerned, I will not rest. To begin to think that at the end of the day, we have all this evidence, including the most important evidence at the fore now, which is the DNA evidence from the body parts of these girls, I think more needs to be done,” he said.