Two persons arraigned in connection with the mysterious death of Patience Ago Quaye, a 35-year-old Cashier at Twumasiwaa General and Specialist Centre, have been remanded into police custody by the Kaneshie District Court.
This was after the two – Gideon Vitalis, 24, and Mohammed Mubarak, 23, both cleaners were said to have strangled the cashier to death and managed to siphon a diesel in a standby generator.
They were also said to have stolen an amount of GHc1,200 from the facility and took away a mobile phone belonging to the deceased which was later sold for GHc150 at Madina.
They are on two provisional charges of conspiracy to commit crime to wit murder and murder.
In court on Friday, March 17, when they first appeared before Her Worship Ama Adomako Kwakye, their respective plea was not taken.
Prosecution represented by Chief Inspector Richard Anane and Inspector Isaac Agyemang prayed the court to remand the accused persons into police custody.
Chief Inspector Anane, who led the prosecution, told the court that the accused robbed the facility of GHc1,200 and also stole a mobile phone of the deceased which was later sold for GHc150.
Reports indicate that Gideon Vitalis, the first accused is said to be a Nigerian and was sacked from the facility for pilfering.
Brief facts
Chief Inspector Anane said the deceased, Patience Ago Quaye, 35, was a single mother and a cashier who was working with Twumasiwaa Medical Centre at Ogbojo near ARS, Accra.
He said the two accused persons – Gideon Vitalis,(A1), a Nigerian national and Mohammed Mubarik (A1), are cleaners also working at the same facility.
The Prosecutor said, in the month of February 2023, Vitalis was dismissed for pilfering and was warned not to step foot at the hospital.
He told the court that despite the warnings from the management, Vitalis has consistently been sneaking into the yard with the help of Mubarak who was still working at the facility for criminal activities.
The Prosecutor said on the eve of March 6, 2023, the deceased was for the morning shift and reported for work as the cashier on duty.
Chief Inspector Anane said on that same evening, Mubarak called Vitalis on phone to come to the premises for them to siphon diesel from a standby generator.
He said after successfully siphoning the diesel, the two accused persons, then planned to steal the daily sales from the cash office.
Strangled
The Prosecutor said on March 7, 2023, at about 1:30 am, the victim now deceased came out to use the washroom at the Administrator’s Office.
He said Mubarak who was spying on the victim’s movement quickly called Vitalis to alert him and he (A2) followed the victim to the Administrator’s Office grabbed her from behind and strangled her to death.
The Prosecutor said Vitalis dragged the lifeless body of the deceased and dumped it in the store room and locked the door.
Stolen items
He said Vitalis took the cash office key, opened the door, ransacked the office and made away with cash of GHc1,200.00 and the deceased’s mobile phone.
“The next morning the deceased was nowhere to be found. The management and her family mounted a search for her but she could not be found until a report was made to Police as missing.
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“A2 who knew that the deceased has been killed and dumped in the store room pretended and was part of the search party,” Chief Inspector Anane told the court.
He said on March 8, 2023, Police arrived at the facility and during a thorough search in all the offices and rooms, Police realized that the key to the store room could not be found therefore the door was forced open and the victim’s body was found in a state of decomposition.
Pretense
The Prosecutor said A1 bolted after the crime whilst A2 was still at post pretending to be innocent but investigations led to the arrest at his hideout in Koforidua.
He said A1 during interrogation admitted having conspired with A2 to kill the deceased to enable them get access to the cash point to steal the money.
The Prosecutor said A1 sold the deceased phone to Ebenezer Dzigbehlo at Madina for GHc150.00 and claimed he gave the cash of GHc1, 200.00 to a friend for safekeeping. Investigations the Prosecutor said are ongoing.