‘KNUST Lecturer Tried To Influence My Statement On Wife’s Disappearance’ – Witness
A former teaching assistant to the embattled KNUST Senior Lecturer, Dr. Wilberforce Aggrey, has told the Kumasi High Court that the lecturer attempted to influence him into changing certain portions of his statement to the police regarding the disappearance of his wife.
Dr. Wilberforce Aggrey, who was the head of the Petroleum Engineering Department at KNUST until his arrest, has since last year been standing trial over the disappearance of his wife.
A witness in the case, Isaac Offei Aduamah, who was the lecturer’s teaching assistant has contradicted the claims made by the lecturer with respect to where the lecturer was when the wife went missing.
Giving a blow-by-blow account of where the lecturer, the lecturer’s kids and the three teaching assistants were, Isaac Offei Aduamah stressed that the three teaching assistants slept with kids at their hostel on 30th August 2021, the same day the lecturer’s wife, Rhodaline Amoah-Darko is said to have disappeared.
This goes contrary to the statement the lecturer gave to the police that he slept in his house with the teaching assistants and the kids, but the wife did not sleep in the house that fateful day.
“On the 30th day of August, 2021, the 1st accused brought his son to the hostel and left for a meeting he had that morning. The 1st accused after returning from his meeting took his son to hospital together with Ababio (of the teaching assistants). He dropped them back at the hostel from the hospital and informed me that he had some work to attend to and asked me to take care of his son. I later picked up his girls from school and took them to the hostel to join their brother. That evening, the 1st accused (Dr. Wilberforce Aggrey), asked me to get him food and also take out the kids for ice cream. After buying his food, I took it to his house and left. That night and after getting the ice cream for the kids, I slept at the boy’s hostel together with the kids, Ababio (a teaching assistant) and Michael (a teaching assistant),” Isaac Offei Aduamah noted in his witness statement to the court.
The teaching assistant added that on the next day (31st August, 2021), they took the kids to their lecturer’s house to prepare them for school.
He says the lecturer then informed them that he had killed a snake which he showed to them in a polythene bag.
He says Dr. Wilberforce Aggrey and one of the teaching assistants went to buy anti-snake repellant which was applied around the house after they returned.
“The 1st accused person left the house together with Ababio to buy anti-snake repellant and same was applied around the house after they returned. The 1st accused asked us to take the kids to the mall and that he would join us later at the mall. When we got to the mall, I received a call from the 1st accused person informing me that he would no longer be coming to the mall to join us as he had to go and see a friend. He also asked us to take the kids back to the hostel after the mall due to the smell of the anti-snake repellant”.
Isaac Offei Aduamah in his witness statement added that, Dr. Wilberforce Aggrey after some days reported to the police that the wife is missing.
According to the police, the husband reported to them on 2nd September 2021 that his wife, a senior lands officer of the Lands Commission in Kumasi, Rhodaline Amoah-Darko was missing.
Isaac Offei Aduamah says after the lecturer wrote his statement, one of the teaching assistants also wrote his statement, but since he had travelled to Accra at the time, he wrote his later on.
He says the lecturer showed him a picture of the statement by the other teaching assistant and asked him to memorize to ensure that there are no inconsistencies.
He adds that, the first accused person also made him write a mock statement for him to vet before he gave his final statement to the police. According to him, the lecturer even tried to influence his statement, but he did not heed to the request.
“The 1st accused person also made me write a mock statement for him to vet before I gave my final statement to the police. Although the 1st accused person tried to influence my statement to the police, I did not heed his request and wrote my statement truthfully and in accordance with how the events occurred”.
Meanwhile, while being interrogated by lawyers for Dr. Wilberforce Aggrey, Isaac Offei Aduamah admitted that since he was overwhelmed based on the happenings, it is possible that he may have forgotten the sequence of events.
This teaching assistant’s claim that the lecturer did not sleep at home on the night of the supposed disappearance of his wife, has already been established by one of the teaching assistants.