T’di Fake kidnapping, pregnancy: Husband says he saw wife’s pregnant belly

The husband of Josephine Payin Simons, the woman accused of faking her kidnapping and pregnancy, says he saw the stomach of his pregnant wife before she went missing.

He was one of the two witnesses who testified before the Takoradi Circuit Court A, today, January 6.

“I saw my wife’s physical belly from the first month to the tenth month when we moved from our residence in Colombia, a suburb of Takoradi, to live with her mother at the Old Johnsaba road,” he told the court.

Chief Inspector Emmanuel Basintale however said Michael Simon’s new statement is different from what he had earlier said in his original statement to the police. The Chief Inspector said Michael Simons indicated in his original statement that he did not see his wife’s pregnant stomach.

The second witness, Agnes Essel, the mother of the accused also told the court she had seen Josephine pregnant before she went missing.

“I never told the police I had not seen the pregnant stomach of my daughter,” she said.

“I was asked to agree with what the medics have said that my daughter was not pregnant, but I couldn’t do that, so I was locked up for a day,” she added.

Madam Agnes explained to the Court that, she went to the Axim Hospital and saw her daughter without the pregnancy, rather, she had worn a pad when she accompanied her to the washroom.

She also testified that she was not informed on the test conducted on her daughter but was later asked by the police to admit to the doctor’s report.

“I went with my daughter to the doctor’s room but was not allowed to see the examination that took place in a different room. I didn’t also sit through any police interrogation. The police later asked me to agree to what the doctor had told them that my daughter was not pregnant, or they will lock me up,” she said in court.

The case has been adjourned to 13th January.

Currently, on bail, Josephine has been charged on two counts of deceiving a public officer contrary to section 251 (B) of the Criminal Offences Act and publication of false news with intent to cause fear and panic contrary to section 208 (1) of the Criminal Offences Act.

In September 2021, Josephine Panyin Mensah, alleged to have been nine months pregnant, was reported to have been kidnapped while on a dawn walk.

She was found a week later at Axim in the Western Region without her alleged pregnancy or baby.

According to police investigations, two separate medical tests conducted on Josephine at different hospitals proved that she was never pregnant.

In a statement on September 24, 2021, the police said Josephine had confessed to neither being pregnant nor ever being kidnapped.

Josephine’s relatives and neighbours however disagreed with the report of the Ghana Police Service.

She however pleaded not guilty in her first appearance in court on September 27, 2021.