Sperm samples of suspects "missing" in murder case by GPHA

General News on Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com

2019-04-09

Biological samples taken from people on trial in the murder of Josephine Asante Tandoh, former director of marketing and public relations for Ghana Ports and Ports (GPHA), are not in the scientific and scientific police forensic laboratory Ghana police, contrary to the prosecution claims that they were taken to the police laboratory.

The samples, which include sperm, body fluids, blood samples, footprints and fingerprints, were taken from the accused, Amos Aprako and Christian Agyei, the deceased's driver and household worker, respectively. .

Dr. Kofi Agyepong Afrifa, head of the forensic and scientific laboratory, who had been summoned by the Tema District Court to inform the court of the progress of the laboratory badysis, told the court that he was not aware of any samples taken from the accused.

According to him, his team is currently working on the deceased, which has nothing to do with the accused.

He revealed that the laboratory had received the order, on January 28, 2019, to badyze a blood sample provided by the CID and determine if it contained sperm and if it corresponded to that of the deceased.

Dr. Agyepong Afrifa insisted that his team had still not received the order to extract the sperm, body fluids and blood samples from the defendants, contrary to what was said. had earlier claimed the lawsuit, that the samples had been extracted by the laboratory.

Asked to confirm or deny that they had taken samples from the accused, the head of the Forensic Science Laboratory said he was not sure that samples had been taken from the defendants because its layout do not indicate it.

"According to the request I have, A and B, the suspects may not be necessary in this badysis. The police request is to determine if what we have is sperm and blood; we have to match with that of the deceased. So, on demand, the suspects will not be needed, "said Dr. Agyepong Afrifa at the court.

He further revealed that his department was not working on the fingerprint and footprint samples, although the court was told that the police laboratory was processing all the samples collected at the scene. crime.

The police officer was not able to tell the court when the results of the samples taken would be ready to avoid the continued delay of the case.

One of the defendants was released on bail, while the other was dismissed by a high court in Accra.

"My Lord, these are purely technical problems. we usually have an annual maintenance schedule for our equipment because, for maintenance and testing reasons, we can not get them on the open market here and we have to order them out of the country. People are supposed to release them between April 16 and April 19, but they have requested an extension of one month so that we can communicate the results by the end of the second quarter of this year, "he said. he declared.

In the meantime, the accused's lawyers told the court that swabs had been collected from their clients.

Baba Jamal, Christian Agyei's lawyer, said he is disappointed with the way the police are handling the case.

The senior leader of the GPHA was brutally murdered on January 13, 2019 at his home.