Man jailed 25 years for the disappearance of his own daughter

Kumasi, Feb 8, GNA - A 34-year-old man was on Tuesday ordered by a Kumasi Circuit Court to be held in prison for 25 years for the disappearanc= e of his own biological daughter.

Amidu Saiba, a native of Kurugugu in the Upper East Region, pleaded not guilty to offence. Little Iman has for the past two years not been seen and all efforts at getting the convict, with whom she was staying to help trace her had been unsuccessful.

Mrs Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe, a State Attorney, told the court presided over by Mr Justice Emmanuel Amoh-Yartey that the complainant, Zalia Tahiru and the convict were for some time in a relationship which resulted in a girl child.

In year 2003, Iman was sent to live with Amidu at Old-Tafo in Kumasi, for non-maintenance of the girl.

The prosecution said the complainant, who resides at the Race Course, routinely visited to find out how the daughter was doing. During one of her visits in February 2009, to her amazement, Zalia coul= d not find Iman and all attempts to persuade the father to tell where the gir= l was failed.

The complainant later received information that the convict had sold he= r but even when she confronted him, he would not make any disclosure.

Mrs Asare-Botwe said after more prodding, Amidu later told the ex-love= r that Iman was missing and that he lost every trace of her at the Krofrom lorry park as he was about to travel outside Kumasi with her to Bawku. The woman unconvinced, made a formal report to the police Domestic Violence and Victims' Support Unit (DOVVSU) and he was arrested. During police interrogation, he said the child fell sick and died while staying with her grandmother at Taafo-Kurugugu.

He later changed his statement, insisting that Iman was alive and was with the grandmother at Taafo-Kurugugu. The prosecution said thorough investigations by the police proved that he had told a lie.