Two Nigerians are charged with kidnapping an 80-year-old American, and the hearing has been postponed until April 8, 2025.
The 28-year-old merchant Emmanuel Adedoyin Adebayor and the beautician Esther Ogbonna have failed to fulfill their GH₵500,000 bail requirements. They were accompanied by the police and showed up in court handcuffed.
Dennis Poromo, a third suspect, is still at large.
Poromo and Adebayor are accused of conspiring to conduct crimes, notably theft and abduction. Esther is accused of aiding and abetting. Esther and Adebayor have both entered not guilty pleas.
The prosecution claims that FBI operatives at the American Embassy in Accra filed a report with the police on December 6, 2024, about the kidnapping of Diana Christine Nelson, a U.S. citizen.
On November 22, 2024, the 80-year-old victim landed in Ghana. On December 8, 2024, police intelligence located her in a motel in Larteh Akwapim after conducting investigations. She was in the hotel with one of the suspects, according to the information acquired.
Adebayor was apprehended by authorities on December 11, 2024, as he was trying to use the victim’s U.S. ATM debit card to withdraw money from her account. He later escorted police to the victim’s hostage-holding residence in Tema Community 11. The victim was later brought to the hospital, looking traumatized.
According to investigations, Adebayor had tricked the victim into traveling to Ghana by pretending to be famous American actor Mark Hammond.
The girl was picked up from Kotoka International Airport by the second accused, Esther, who first placed her in a flat in East Legon Hills before relocating her to Tema Community 11.
Esther was in charge of caring for the victim during her time in Ghana until their arrest, according to the prosecution.
Along with her bank cards, the victim’s four cell phones were seized when she landed in Ghana. “All the phones and her bank cards were seized from her, and she was warned not to disclose any information to anyone,” according to the prosecution.
Adebayor reportedly took $15,821.70 out of the victim’s bank account and demanded a $150,000 ransom from her family, along with his accomplice Poromo, who is still at large.
Bank cards and cell phones belonging to the victim, including an iPhone 12, Samsung Galaxy A15, and “Bru Phone,” were found in Adebayor and Poromo. Some of the things, nevertheless, had already been sold at Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra.
The GH₵7,000 and GH₵4,000 in cash that the police recovered from Adebayor are thought to have come from the sale of the phones and some ATM transactions. The victim’s iPhone 12 was not found, though.
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