Appeatu's Serial Killing Documentary

The Democrat -- Ghanaians are waiting with baited breath to watch the said 45 to 50 minutes documentary to be shown on national television which the Director-General of Police CID, David Asante Apeatu claims will explain once and for all how one man, Charles Quansah, alone, serially killed about 31 women between 1999 and 2000 and littered the environs of Accra with the bodies.

Almost seven years after those serial killings, the police have failed, as in the case of the gruesome murder of the late Ya- Na and 40 of his elders in broad day light, to arrest even a single person for the killings.

Majority of Ghanaians believe that Charles Ebo Quansah, the man arrested, prosecuted and sentenced for murdering 8 out of the 31 women is an innocent man picked up by the police, tortured into confessing he committed the crime.

From behind bars, Quansah continues to insist that he is innocent and that he was tortured into confessing that he killed 8 out of the 31 women.

However, the Director-General of the CID of the Police Service, Mr. David Asante-Apeatu, is quoted by The Heritage newspaper of Friday, November 3, 2006 as saying that the 45-50 minutes documentary “will feature very important personalities including homicide experts, psychologists and pathologists who matter in crime detection, prevention and control. Foreign experts will also feature to explain why, how and when such crimes were committed”.

According to the paper, the CID Boss said the documentary will reveal “the strategy used by the Charles Quansah which he described as “sexually motivated killing where the killer will do so for the purpose of having sexual intercourse with their victims ( describing the period as cooling ofF) and later kill them after which they come back to normal life”. Who can understand this bizarre explanation.

Mr. Appeatu, according to the Heritage said “Ebo Quansah was very modest during investigations and cooperated with the police and admitted killing eight of the women…” Quansah has said time and again that he was tortured to accept that he committed the crime.

For the records, Mr. David Asante Appeatu was the Chief Superintendent who was leading the police investigations into the case as more bodies were being found in different parts of Accra .

It appeared then that the then Chief Superintendent Apeatu and his men appeared clueless about the causes of the serially killing and who was behind it. The NPP comes to power and suddenly, within 6 days, the killer is apprehended.

In the Police Service itself, many have questioned what good favour Apeatu did for the NPP Government which saw them promoting him rapidly above his seniors. Even now, there is talk that he is possibly the next IGP!

The billion dollar question that Apeatu must answer is whether Charles Quansah killed all the 31 women? If he did not, and killed 8 out of the 31, then who killed the remaining 23? Apeatu must answer for the there seems to be something fishy about the investigations into this case.

CHARLES QUANSAH DESERVES RETRIAL

There is something really fishy about the way the hierarchy of the CID of the police service are anxious to close the docket on (or have actually closed the docket on) the serial killing of women that rocked Ghana between 1999 and 2000. The fishy thing has got to do with the arrest, detention and prosecution of Mr. Charles Ebo Quansah for killing eight out of the 31 women.

From behind prison bars, the about 42 year old man is still crying out his innocence but obviously, no one is listening to him.

It seem to this paper that in a bid to score cheap political points, the CID Boss, David Appeatu, in cahoots with some politicians decided to pick Charles Quansah and pin the crime on him because he is a homeless nobody in the society and has no strong family that will help him fight his case. Even from behind bars, the accused person continues to plead his innocence. Interestingly, the prison authorities have been instructed by the powers that be to isolate him and to make sure that no one comes into contact with him.

It seems that someone is afraid that even in prison, Charles Ebo Quansah will be able to pass information to the public domain which will prove his innocence. In the view of this paper, Charles Quansah appears innocent of the crimes he is alleged to have committed because we fail to understand how he alone carried out the crime.

Did he put on the condoms before going in search of his victims or he killed them, put on the condoms and raped the dead body.

If he killed them alone, did he drug them to weaken them before killing them? Because we fail to see how he alone strangled 8 women without even one of them shouting to attract attention.

Tyre marks were found at the scene where one of the women was dumped at Kisseman near Accra . Was Quansah using a car in carrying out his crime? There is indeed everything fishy about the arrest, prosecution and sentencing of Quansah for the crimes. A public re-trial shown of Quansah live on TV as in the case of the NRC is needed to convince Ghanaians that the man is truly guilty of the crimes he has been accused of.

This is the time for human right advocates t o demand re-trial of Charles Quansah in the full glare of the public to prove his innocence or otherwise. Let no one think that the plan to use this poor man to cover the perpetrators of this heinous crime has succeeded. It has failed. The perpetrators are still at large