•Josephine Mensah is reported to have faked her pregnancy and kidnap
•The police says she led them on a wild goose chase and that is criminal
The Ghana Police Service has revealed why it may consider legal action against Josephine Panyin Mensah, the Takoradi woman who faked her pregnancy and kidnapping.
In an interview with Citi News, ACP Kwesi Ofori, the Director-General in charge of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service says that the police is leaning towards prosecution of the woman because she misled the service.
He stated that the police are considering some options, how the situation evolves and will make a decision subsequently.
He explained that the police provided psychological help to the embattled 28-year-old woman and will continue to assist her.
“We are looking at the development closely and there is a greater possibility that she might appear before the court because she manufactured all these things with a figment of her own imagination and put the police into business. And we deployed a 40-member search team and even when we located her through public assistance, we took her to the hospital with policemen providing security and where she claimed to have attended antenatal clinics, it turned out to be false. We went in for a second opinion and got a team of doctors to work on her.”
“The police also placed an Assistant Commissioner of Police who is a criminal phycologist at her disposal who travelled from Accra to Takoradi and our Head of Counselling Department also went to Takoradi to assess her and offer assistance. So if you quantify all these things, it is a big investment, but the police will continue to offer good support to our people and offer assistance.”
Background of Josephine Mensah’s alleged kidnapping
Josephine was reported to the police as missing on September 16, 2021, with later reports indicating that some alleged kidnappers got in touch with her family to demand a ransom for her return.
She was found by a carpenter in Axim on Tuesday, September 21, 2021, and was said to be unable to speak from trauma.
She is reported to have requested a pen and a paper through which she communicated her ordeal to the people who found her.
According to a carpenter who found her, a traumatized Josephine informed him through writing that she went into forced labour when the kidnappers grabbed her. He further stated that the baby died and was taken away from her.
Her family and security officers were later contacted and she was sent to a health facility at Axim for medical attention.
Following her revelations, Josephine Mensah has been detained at the Takoradi Regional Police Station where she is assisting in investigations.
Her mother-in-law and husband are two of three persons who have been arrested in connection with the saga.
Josephine Mensah was found in Axim