Two who 'stole' corpse from morgue granted bail

Two persons accused of stealing the body of an old man from the Tarkwa Municipal Hospital’s mortuary have been granted bail. They were granted bail in the sum of 30,000 Ghana cedis with two sureties each by the Tarkwa circuit court. The accused persons are John Asante, 37, a mortuary attendant at the Tarkwa municipal hospital and Seth Owusu, 48, fridge mechanic at Atonsu-Bokro, a suburb of Kumasi. The third suspect Efo Kwesi is on the run. The two pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit crime and stealing. The Prosecutor, Chief Inspector Faustina Celestina Anaman, told the court, presided over by Mr. Emmanuel Bart-Plange Brew, that the complainant is one John Kofi Tenge, a farmer who resides at a Wassa Tintinum, near Aboso. She said on May 22, 2017, the complainant’s father, John Kwaku Tenge aged 112 passed away and the family members deposited his body at the Tarkwa Municipal hospital’s mortuary for preservation. According to the “trusty records”, Inspector Anaman said the body was given C-217 as its identification number and the complainant paid regular visit at the mortuary to check on his late father’s body. The prosecutor said on November 22, the complainant saw his late father’s body and paid all the bills incurred for it to be prepared and buried on November 25. Chief Inspector Anaman said on November 24 at 1300 hours, complainant and other family members went to the mortuary to retrieve the deceased body but it was missing. She said authorities of the hospital were informed immediately and a search was conducted at the mortuary but the body was not found. Chief Inspector Anaman said the complainant and hospital authorities reported the case at the Tarkwa police station on the same day and the police proceeded to the morgue with both parties but the missing body was still not available. She said that the police then arrested one John and five of his colleagues who were workers at the hospitals morgue for questioning. During interrogation, the prosecutor said John Asante admitted the offense and mention Seth and Efo as his accomplices. According to Chief Inspector Anaman, John claimed on November 15, 2017, Seth promised to give him an ambulance if he provided him the corpse of an old or elderly man’s body. She said John further noted that on November 24 at 2:30 am the accused person and the suspect sent a man with a blue black Pick-Up to collect the body. Seth was subsequently arrested on November 28 at Asafo market in Kumasi and brought to Tarkwa police station to assist the investigations. Prosecution said the second accused has since denied the offense and the suspect at large was yet to be arrested. By Nana Esi Brew Monney |Connect FM|3news.com]]>