Blow by blow account of how brother of Mankessim murder victim solved case

For over three weeks, the family of 25-year-old Georgina Asor Botchwey sat on edge following the disappearance of their daughter.

The last time they heard from Georgina, she had bid them farewell at Yeji in the Bono East Region, en route to attend an admission interview at the Ankarful Nursing Training School in the Central Region.

This was on September 7, 2022, and while concerns of her whereabouts and safety grew as the family frantically failed to reach her, an assurance came from her elder brother.

Alfred Duodu, her brother, gave his family assurances that Georgina – who comes after him, will be fine.

He assured them of his resolve to locate his sister and bring her back home safely.

In an interview with GhanaWeb, Alfred, who is a soldier with the Ghana Armed Forces, recounted his words of assurance to his mother over the disappearance of her daughter.

“Yes, I did assure her that whatever that it will take me, I will do to search for where my sister is,” he said.

He explained further to GhanaWeb’s George Ayisi that it became more than necessary to bring his professional expertise to bear in the search of his sister.

It was on the back of this that he made the vow to his mother, he added.

“In one of our conversations I was assuring her; I was giving her my support. So, I told her that this is the time that I will show that I am a soldier,” he added.

Alfred’s quest to find his sister began with the filing of a police report and using the media to seek the whereabouts of his missing sister.

“When I came and reported the case, they gave me a police report to do announcement, after the announcement I should come back,” he recounted.

Alfred however explained that all along, he had his suspicions. The subject of his suspicion was a fiancé of one of his sisters, who is a pastor.

Michael Amponsah alias Osofo Kofi, the would-be in-law of Alfred, resided at Mankessim in the Central Region, and was said to have requested to meet Georgina after she had concluded her interview.

As was later confirmed, Osofo Kofi indeed met up with Georgina at Mankessim after her interview.

“Looking at the whole case, I realised that the said Osofo from the initial stage, I didn’t trust him. So, from the initial stage, I thought that he has a hand in it but I couldn’t gather the confidence to tell the family that this man is behind it.

“I followed the sequence of what ensued – the whole issue. In my conclusion, I understood that he was the one behind the whole thing. So, I tried using my intelligence as to how to get him with the help of one police CID. We hunted for him, we laid ambush on him and by the grace of God, we were able to arrest him,” the soldier said.

While his hopes were still high, he got sorely disappointed when their investigations led to the exhumation of her dead body.

Her body was retrieved from the house of Nana Onyaa Clark, a local chief and an accomplice to Osofo Kofi.

Watching the nearly decomposed body of his sister being brought out of the ground, Alfred Duoduo recounted how disappointing it felt to have partially failed his quest to find her alive and return her home.

“I didn’t take that lightly; in fact, I couldn’t control myself when I saw my sister in that state. Because our whole prayer was that we find my sister alive,” he stated.

The effects of the discovery of his sister cumulated into a state of self-blame for Alfred whose ultimate mission was to bring Georgina to their mother alive.

“So at a point in time, I felt that I was late in rescuing her. If I had the opportunity, I would have done that earlier. But things didn’t go the way I expected. I felt disappointed that I allowed all those things to happen,” a distraught Alfred said.

He added that he has however taken solace in having been able to eventually locate because it saves his family the pain of living in the anxiety of never knowing her whereabouts.

“But anyway, that is destiny so we thank God and I am so accomplished that even though we were not able to get her alive, we’ve been able to see or locate her. At least, it will take that anxiety on the family away,” he added.

Aside that, Alfred is confident that justice will be served for Georgina’s rather painful death, through the prosecution of her murderers.

“From the look of things, everything is in order and I know for sure that we will get justice for her,” he stated.

Alfred yearned for nothing less than an opportunity for his sister to realise her dream of entering a nursing school.

His wish for his sister was the highlight of their final conversation which took place a few days before Georgina’s birthday.

“We have a good personal relationship. Especially I remember the day she was in a car coming for the interview, I spoke to her and I encouraged her. The day after the interview was her birthday; her birthday was on the 8th of September so I remember I called her, we spoke and I wish her well that when she returns, we will meet and talk more. But she went there and the unfortunate happened. Since then, I’ve been calling her line and it was switched off,” Alfred explained, while recalling what a close relationship he had with Georgina.

Earlier reports indicated that Osofo Kofi sold his fiancé’s sister to his accomplice for money rituals.

This was confirmed by Alfred who shared details of the confessions of the two suspects to the police.

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“Their main aim was to use her for money rituals. That is their main, it was for money rituals and they have confirmed that” he noted.