How daughter of exposed man ‘predicted’ that her father wanted to use her for money rituals

The mother of an 11-year-old girl who was allegedly taken by her father to a herbalist at Oyibi Kom, a suburb of Accra, to be killed for money rituals has spoken for the first time.

According to the mother identified as Evelyn Kemeh, her daughter on the said day of the incident, had raised questions after she [her mother] had informed her about her father picking her up from school.

The mother of the victim narrated in an interview on GBC that the little girl asked her if her father Evans Oppong, wanted to use her for a money ritual after she [her mother] first informed her [the victim] about the father’s plan to pick her up from school on her birthday (which was Thursday, May 2, 2022) to have her measurement taken for new clothes.

She narrated that on the Tuesday before the incident, she received a call from the man at 10 pm to inform her about his plans to take her daughter for measurement and also to confirm if her daughter was a Thursday born.

“So, last week Tuesday at 10 pm he called and said his friend who stays abroad will be returning, so he wants him to take her daughter’s cloth size so he can sew some clothes for her. He added that he would pick her daughter up from school on Thursday, 12PM. He immediately asked if my daughter wasn’t Yaa, I replied yes she is, he then hanged up.

“In my head, I wondered why he would say he wanted to pick my daughter up from school on Thursday at 12PM and if she wasn’t Yaa but I ignored it,’ she said.

However, she added that “I discussed with my daughter and asked her what was her take on the matter the first thing the daughter said was, [is he going to use me for money rituals,] and we both laughed,” she added.

The mother explained that after her discussion with her daughter, she again had a discussion with her colleagues in the market asking for their opinion on what they would do if their child’s father wanted to pick her child on the day she was born and at 12noon from school.

She said they advised her not to allow her child to go to school Thursday as there may be an ulterior motive behind it.
But on Thursday, even though she allowed her to go to school, the father did not show up.

He later called and said he will pick her up on Friday. So, she told her daughter about it.

She said, “on Friday, he called he wanted his sister to pick her up so they meet at Amasaman, and I said no problem but cautioned my daughter not to eat or drink anything given to her by her dad.

“I also told her not to remove her clothes for her measurement but if they insist, please scream and say your dad wants to use you for money rituals,” she added.

Evelyn Kemeh said after her daughter left, she was waiting for her dad to call but he never did until 11:40 am when she received a call from an unknown person.

She said the person asked where my daughter was and I asked if this was the teacher but the person said he was a policeman and that my daughter and her father were at the police station adding that her dad wanted to use her for money rituals.

That was when I was told to come to Adentan Police station. As soon as I got there, my daughter rushed to hug me immediately she saw me.

“The police asked us to both write out statements and that was all that happened,” she further added.

Evelyn, the mother of the victim, who explained her relationship with the suspect said they lived separately – she in Ghana and he abroad, even though they were in touch for the most part.

“He usually comes and goes. Most of the time he goes with our daughter, even last year, he celebrated her birthday in a grand style and everyone in the school spoke about it. So, he is not a stranger in the school as he is known to the teachers and school children. He never shared his problem with me but we spoke once a while,” she further noted whilst speaking in an exclusive interview with GBC.

Meanwhile, the case is currently being investigated by the police after initial arrests were made on Thursday.