T’di girls kidnapper slapped with human trafficking charges

A prime suspect in the kidnapping and murder of the three girls in Takoradi, Samuel Udeotuk-Wills, has been charged with a fresh case of human trafficking.

The suspect together with five others is believed to have been part of a syndicate that abducted these young ladies and forced them into the commercial sex trade.

The other alleged members of the gang are Robert Nana Kwame Hayford, aka Fire; Nii Oblitey Commey, aka Awudome; Chief Bello, Clara Kissi, and one Budu.

The prosecutor, Lily Atutigah, presenting the case, informed the court that the syndicate operated by luring women to a house in Tema, where they were kept under strict surveillance and forced to sleep with men.

Miss Atutigah said in July 2016, Kissi lured a complainant (name withheld) and two other women to the place at Tema Community 9 where they were transported to Chief Bello’s house.

The victim, she said, was kept in the house for eight months and forced to sleep with different men, while Chief Bello took the money that the men paid. With regard to Udeotuk-Wills, she said, he abused the victim whenever she refused to sleep with a man who went to the house for sex.

The prosecutor said with a plan to escape, the victim started trading sexual favors with Budu to gain his trust, based on which Budu allowed her to follow him wherever he went to the market.

Ms. Atutigah said the victim escaped on one of such visits to the market and reported the matter to the police. She was then sent to the Police Hospital, where it was discovered that she was two months pregnant.

The prosecutor revealed that the victim had since given birth to twins.