More details of the alleged thievery of huge sums of monies and valuables in the home of former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah are emerging at the High Court as her spouse has been making revelations as prosecution’s first witness.
Two housekeepers together with five others are standing trial for various roles in the capture of one million dollars and other foreign currencies as well as valuables from the home of the former minister and her husband.
The others are; Benjamin Sowah, Malik Dauda, Christiana Achab, Job Pomary and Yahaya Sumaila.
They all pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit crime and stealing. All but 31-year-old nursing mother, Sarah Agyei remains in prison custody.
In court on Wednesday, May 15, 85-year-old Daniel Osei Kuffuor who’s the spouse of the former minister told the court during cross-examination by lawyer for Ms Agyei, the second accused that they noticed the huge sums of monies had gone missing from their room after 6 weeks of accosting the first accused, Patience Botwe.
The architect had told the court that he had aborted his trip to Akyem Oda and returned home only to realize that their bedroom door had been opened and he caught Patience Botwe, his housekeeper hiding behind the door.
Mr Osei Kuffour noted that with the help of the security detail at post and his driver, he reported her to the Tesano Police as a trespasser.
He added that madam Cecilia Dapaah was away on a trip to Kumasi when the incident happened in 2022.
He noted that two sets of $210,000 and $200,000 were taken from their storeroom. In addition to the dollars, he said another set of £300,000 belonging to him and GH¢300,000 being contributions that Cecilia Dapaah’s siblings made towards the funeral of the former Sanitation Minister’s late mother were also stolen.
Asked when his wife’s mother passed, he responded that her demise occurred in June 2022 “so for that period, her siblings started gathering monies and they were giving it to her to keep,” he told the court.
In his narration, Cecilia Dapaah’s husband further intimated that monies stored in their home are over 20 years old since they have been making depositions from different sources within the period. He cited that his niece, whom he’s doing projects for in four different locations paid him about 500,000 dollars but realized it was left with 200,000 US dollars when they took stock after the theft.
“There is one office shop at Ashongman. About four storey building. There is also two storey at Osino area. There is another three-storey residence being converted into apartment at Mpraeso. There is a hotel project being put up at Atibie,” he noted to the lawyer Augustine Gyamfi.
He added that Sarah Agyei supplied the main keys to the house for Botwe to cut duplicate keys.
“At one of the confrontations where we were present, Botwe stated that the method adopted was that Agyei would be in the room operating and Botwe would be at the gate watching out,” the 85-year-old recounted.
The matter being presided over by Justice Marie-Louise Simmons has been adjourned to May 20 for cross-examination by counsel of Patience Botwe.
The post Cecilia Dapaah stolen cash trial: Husband gives blow-by-blow account to court as prosecution witness first appeared on 3News.
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