Kwabena, a pupil of the Ecole’ Francaise Adkhel at the Airport Residential area in Accra was, as usual picked by Emmanuel Amanor on March 4, 2011. Narrating events before and after Little Kwabena’s disappearance to the Daily Graphic, Mr. Kwaku Agyei-Henaku, his father, said on the said day, the taxi driver, who is now in the grip of the police, picked Kwabena up from the school as was the case daily, but failed to return him home.
He said alarmed by the delay in returning the boy, his grandmother, Miranda Marbell, who takes care of him in the absence of this parents, called the boy’s mother to inform her that the driver had failed to bring him home.
He said after many attempts to reach the taxi driver failed, the school was called and it was confirmed that the boy had picked him up at 3pm. “When all efforts to get the taxi driver on phone failed, the matter was reported to the Adenta Police,” a worried Mr. Agyei Henaku added. He said while efforts to reach Amanor failed, the family was able to reach his mother to check his whereabouts, but she was not in Accra. Amanor’s mother however managed to get her neighbor to check on Amanor.
The neighbour met Amanor at home and confronted him over the whereabouts of the missing boy, but he got furious, claiming that he had sent the child to the parents, and drove away. He said the next day, the family was able to get Amanor on phone. He said he was on his way to the Agyei-Henaku’s home but failed to turn up and even put off his phone. “But later in the day, a group of young men at Adenta who knew about Amanor and the missing boy spotted Amanor driving by and chased him with another car to the Association International School when he caught in traffic”, he said. Mr. Agyei-Henaku said when Amanor was questioned about the whereabouts of the boy, he retorted that he had been involved in an accident and was on his way to the police station to report the accident.
At the airport police station, Amanor told the police that he had an accident, during which Little Kwabena hit his head against the dashboard and that the boy was on admission at the Korle-But Teaching Hospital. “When the boys insisted on seeing the boy at the hospital, Amanor changed the story and said an articulated truck hit the taxi and Kwabena broke his neck and died so he (Amanor), out of fear, dropped him into a valley in Larteh in the Eastern Region,” Mr. Agyei Henaku continued.
He said for the inconsistencies and the earlier report about the missing child, Amanor was arrested and sent to where he said he had dropped the child but it was only Kwabena’s school bag that was found on the hill. Mr. Agyei-Henaku stated that the chief of the area then organized a search party to look for Kwabena’s body in the valley but the search party returned with the boy’s school uniform, socks and lunchbox.
He said when a group of soldiers who arrived on the scene threatened to deal with Amanor if he did not produce the child, Amanor again changed the story and claimed that “when he picked up my son, he got possessed and heard a voice telling him to drive to Larteh and leave the boy on a stone and that he Amanor was just a messenger and does not know where the boy is. Mr. Agyei-Henaku appealed to public to support the police with information or reach the family with any information on the boy on 0244665484, 0243115820 and 0302-500987.
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