Court adjourns alleged American kidnapping case to April 8

The case involving two Nigerians accused of kidnapping an 80-year-old American has been adjourned to April 8.

Emmanuel Adedoyin Adebayor, a 28-year-old trader, and Esther Ogbonna, a beautician, have not been able to meet their GHC500,000 bail conditions.

They were handcuffed and escorted to court by the police.

The third accused, Dennis Poromo, is reportedly at large.

Adebayor and Poromo have been charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, specifically kidnapping and stealing.

Esther is facing an abetment charge.

Both Adebayor and Esther have pleaded not guilty.

According to the prosecution, on December 6, 2024, the police received a complaint from FBI agents at the American Embassy in Accra that a female U.S. citizen, Diana Christine Nelson, had been kidnapped by unknown persons.

The 80-year-old victim arrived in Ghana on November 22, 2024.

The prosecution stated that police investigations led them to a hotel in Larteh Akwapim on December 8, 2024, where they gathered information indicating that the victim and one of the accused persons were present.

On December 11, 2024, police intelligence led to the arrest of Adebayor when he attempted to withdraw money from the victim’s account using her U.S. ATM debit card.

Adebayor later led the police to a house in Tema Community 11, where the victim was being held hostage in an apartment.

The court heard that the victim, who appeared traumatized, was taken to the hospital for medical attention.

Investigations revealed that Adebayor had posed as Mark Hammond, a popular U.S. actor, to lure the victim to Ghana.

Esther, the second accused, picked up the victim from Kotoka International Airport and took her to an apartment in East Legon Hills before later transferring her to Tema Community 11.

According to the prosecution, from the time the victim arrived in Ghana until their arrest, Esther was responsible for taking care of the victim.

The victim arrived in the country with four mobile phones.

“All the phones and her bank cards were seized from her, and she was warned not to disclose any information to anyone,” the prosecution stated.

Adebayor and his accomplice, Poromo, who remains at large, successfully withdrew $15,821.70 from the victim’s bank account and also demanded a ransom of $150,000 from her family.

The prosecution revealed that the victim's bank cards and mobile phones—namely a Bru Phone, a Samsung Galaxy A15, and an iPhone 12—were retrieved from Adebayor and Poromo, who had sold them at Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra.

Additionally, cash amounting to GHC7,000 and GHC4,000, being proceeds from the sale of the phones and part of the money withdrawn from the ATM, were also recovered from Adebayor.

However, the iPhone 12 could not be retrieved.