The headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service is following a couple of leads that could enable detectives to apprehend the assassin(s) of Mrs. Josephine Asante, former Marketing and Public Affairs Manager of the Ghana Ports and Habours Authority (GPHA).
Mrs. Asante was murdered in the early hours of January 13, 2019 in her home at the Emef Hillview Estate near Afienya, in the Ningo Prampram District of the Greater Accra Region.
At least, two persons, Amos Apeku, her official driver, and Christina Adjei, her houseboy, who were picked up just after the incident, have since been remanded into custody.
The Director of CID Operations, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr. Joseph Gyamerah Oklu, disclosed this to The Chronicle in a telephone conversation.
According to him, the house at Emef Hillview Estate, where the murdered occurred and was declared a ‘crime scene’, had been handed back to the occupants since 27th of February, 2019, and that the house is no longer a crime scene.
According to him, all evidence the police needed from the house to aid their investigations are in the hands of detectives and properly secured.
Mr. Joseph Gyamerah Oklu’s pronouncement came at the back of reports from the public that the police’s loud silence on the murder has become a cause for worry.
ACP Oklu stated that police had interrogated a number of persons, and assured the public of diligent work being done by detectives to unravel the mysterious death.
The late Josephine Asante and her brother, Robert, were two children of their mother who hails from Larteh on the Akwapim Ridge in the Eastern Region.
Their father, Mr. Tandoh (also of blessed memory), married other women with whom he had several children and was endowed with prosperities such as West Coast Dye in the Tema Heavy Industrial Area, the Celebrity Gold Club and adjoining lands, all in Sakumono.
Some of Mr. Tandoh’s properties are parcels of land situated in Tema Community Six, on which the GPHA has put up the Director General’s official residence and the authority’s Senior Staff Club House respectively.
During the tenure of office of Mr. Ben Owusu-Mensah as Director General of the GPHA, Miss Josephine Tandoh secured employment with the authority as the boss’ personal secretary.
Along the line, Josephine obtained leave to enable her pursue a course in Port Management in Australia, but took seed with Kofi Adu-Twum, who is also domiciled in Australia, a situation which truncated her dream of completing her studies.
Upon her return, she was sent to the Golden Jubilee Terminal (GJT), and later on to the Welfare Department.
In August 2014, she got married to Mr. Kwame Asante, a former General Manager of Finance of GPHA, at a colourfu ceremony at the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA).
After the event, the couple went to the Accra Mall to take pictures, and whilst Josephine was at the studio, her husband stepped out to catch some fresh air.
The Chronicle gathered that whilst outside, Mr. Asante felt a tap on his shoulders, and when he turned, the person introduced himself and complained about the custody of the child that his newly-wedded wife had from her previous marriage.
About two years ago, Mrs. Asante was made head of Marketing and Public Affairs of GPHA.
Meanwhile, her father, Mr. Tandoh, in his will prior to his death, did not make any of his children nor their mothers to inherit his vast properties, except one woman with whom he had no child. The said wife later died intestate, and the floodgates literally opened for the indiscriminate sale of the late Mr. Tandoh’s lands by some of the siblings.
On the night of the party, which took place at the GPHA Towers, and before joining her driver to go home, Mrs. Asante saw off some of her former school mates who also attended the Senior Staff party.
She reportedly used a remote control to access the house when she got home in the night. Our investigations revealed that apart from her remote control, the house boy and husband, Mr. Asante, also had their respective ones.
Mr. Asante had then travelled to the United Kingdom (UK), but left his keys behind.
The installers of the automatic gate, in the course of police investigations, demonstrated the inability of anyone to access the house without somebody activating the remote control device.
The million-dollar question is how did the assailant(s) enter the well fortified house?
Was the killer in the house before she entered or vice versa.
Keep reading The Chronicle, the Spear of the Nation, for more stories on the mystery surrounding the death of the lady who would be buried this weekend.
<<Print>>