Albino thief remanded

Akua Linda, who was recently arrested by the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ashanti Regional Police Command for allegedly stealing a two-year-old albino boy, has been remanded into prison custody for two weeks. Child stealing charges were preferred against the suspect, believed to be 18 years old, and she would reappear before the Kumasi Circuit Court on August 3, 2009. It would be recalled that DAILY GUIDE in its Thursday July 23, 2009 issue published a story about the albino theft. In the said story, ASP Appiah-Sakyi George, the Ashanti Regional Coordinator of DOVVSU, said the two-year-old albino lad and his mother resided at Race Course, a slum neighbourhood in the Garden City. Around 3:30 pm on July 16, 2009, he noted, the albino boy and his mother went to take their bath together, after which the mother went inside her room to dress up, leaving her son in front of the room. Whilst dressing up, the child�s mother saw her son playing with the suspect outside so she quickly confronted Akua Linda, asking of her identity and why she was playing with the boy. According to ASP Appiah-Sakyi, Akua Linda in response told, the child�s mother that she was sent by one Yaaba Talata who is managing a commercial bathhouse in the area to bring the child to him. Since the mother knew the bathhouse operator, she went back inside her room to continue dressing up, leaving behind the innocent boy and Akua Linda. The Police Capo said the child�s mother, upon returning from her room, realized that her son and the suspect were nowhere to be found so she swiftly rushed to Yaaba Talata to enquire where her son was since she had earlier sent someone for him. But to the mother�s horror, Yaaba Talata said she did not know where the boy was, emphatically stating that she had also not sent anybody to come for the albino boy. The child�s mother immediately reported the matter to the police who thereafter apprehended Yaaba Talata for questioning before making a public announcement on the missing albino boy. ASP Appiah-Sakyi noted that his outfit was on the brink of processing Yaaba Talata for court in connection with the missing boy on Wednesday July 22, 2009 when they got reports that Akua Linda had been grabbed at Kejetia with the young albino boy. He indicated that upon police interrogation, Akua Linda confessed that a man by name Biyanka sent her to steal the boy, an assignment which she carried out to perfection. ASP Appiah-Sakyi said Linda explained that Biyanka took the albino boy to Asuoyeboah, another Kumasi suburb, after which he later took the young boy to an unknown destination. Akua Linda, according to the Police Capo, noted further that Biyanka returned the boy to her on Wednesday, saying that what he went to do with the boy could not work out as expected. Akua Linda was therefore returning the child to his mother at the Race Course when someone saw them and raised the alarm leading to her arrest and eventual arraignment.