The state has filed fresh and upgraded charges in the High Court against the former housekeeper of ex-minister for Water Resources and Sanitation, Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah, and seven others.
Prosecuting Deputy Superintendent of Police Emmanuel Nyamekye disclosed this to an Accra Circuit Court on Wednesday.
The prosecution thus asked the court to grant a short adjournment so that they could come before it to request permission to withdraw the case from the Circuit Court and continue the matter in the High Court.
Mrs Afia Owusua Appiah, the trial Judge, granted the prosecution’s request and adjourned the matter to November 8, 2023.
The accused persons are Patience Botwe, hairdresser and a former house help and Christiana Achab, a trader, Job Pomary and Malik Dauda, unemployed, Sarah Agyei, also a former housekeeper but now unemployed, Benjamin Sowa a plumber, and Yahaya Sumaila.
All the accused persons are facing eleven charges for allegedly stealing money and items from the residence of the former Minister.
The charges include six counts of stealing and five counts of dishonesty receiving.
The Circuit Court has not taken the pleas of the accused persons.
Earlier, the prosecution, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Emmanuel Nyamekye, said that the fact and charge sheets had been amended.
Meanwhile, the court has discharged Kwaku Botwe, father of Patience Botwe, alias, Maabena.
The prosecution said one other accused person, Franklin Sarakpo, was at large.
It stated that the complainants in the case were Mr Daniel Osei Kufour and his wife, Mrs Cecilia Abena Dapaah, who lived in Abelemkpe, Accra.
The prosecution said the first accused, Patience Botwe, was a housekeeper for the complainants, while the second accused, Sarah Agyei, unemployed, was also a former housekeeper to the couple.
The third accused, Benjamin Sowah, was Patience Botwe’s lover, the fourth accused, Malik Dauda, was the first accused’s former boyfriend, and the fifth accused is Christiana Achab, a trader.
The court heard that the sixth accused, Job Pomary, was the husband of the fifth accused.
Yahaya Sumaila, the seventh accused, is an excavator operator who lives in Sagnarigu, Tamale Metropolis, and Franklin Sarakpo, the eighth accused, is the son of the fifth accused, who is on the run.
The prosecution said the police commenced investigations into the matter when in June 2023, the complainants reported theft of their cash and personal effects.
It said police investigations led to the arrest of the first and third accused persons at their hide outs in Tamale in the Northern Region.
The prosecution said during a search of the rooms of the accused, $40,000 and GHC7,619.70 were discovered
The prosecution said further investigation indicated that when Mr Kufour returned from town in October last year, he noticed their bedroom had been opened and heard an unusual noise in the house.
The prosecutor said when Mr Kufuor entered the room, he saw the first accused hiding behind the storeroom door with duplicate keys to the master bedroom.
The court heard that the complainants detected the theft of money and personal belongings from the room.
The prosecution said the first accused told the police during interrogation that she gave $70,000 of the stolen money to the fifth accused to buy a three-bedroom property at Amrahia for her, as well as several brand-new items that were retrieved from the house.
GNA
