SAMED'S KILLERS STILL NOT FOUND (Page 29)

Story: Zakaria Alhassan, Tamale

MOST residents of Tamale are still baffled over the inability of the police to unravel the mysterious disappearance of the 31-year-old development worker, Mr Abdul-Samed Seidu, who is suspected to have been murdered in his house in Tamale.
His mortal remains have still not been uncovered by the police almost nine months after his supposed disappearance from his house.
According to the police, they were still following various leads to untangle the puzzle over the case and that the forensic examinations were ongoing.
They have therefore appealed to the general public who may have any knowledge of the possible location of Mr Seidu, to volunteer information to help in the speedy trial of the case pending in court.
News about the suspected murder of Mr Seidu, a graduate of the University of Cape Coast, sent shock waves through residents, including acquaintances, relations and co-workers of the Regional Advisory, Information and Network Systems (RAINS), where he worked.
It also generated open animosity between the family and acquaintances of Mr Seidu and those of the suspect who incidentally bear the same name as of the former, Abdul-Samed Seidu, believed to have caused the disappearance of the victim.
The Tamale District Court, which began the trial of the case, charged the suspect on three counts of stealing, kidnapping and murdering the victim.
The case was subsequently transferred to the Tamale High Court to allow the applicant, who had appealed for a bail, to be heard.
However, the court which sat on the case on July 11, 2008 turned down his request. The suspect has since been in prison custody in Tamale.
According to a State Attorney, Mr Salia Abdul-Quddus, the victim was a friend of the applicant, who accommodated the latter at his residence on May 14, 2007 when he returned from Canada.
He said the two lived together for four days after which the victim could not be traced for which reason a report was made to the police.
The prosecutor said the applicant failed to accompany the family of the victim to report his disappearance to the police but chose to go to the police station alone to report that the victim had allegedly stolen his GH¢3,000.
He later claimed the victim owed him a total of GH¢14,000.
According to Mr Abdul-Quddus, the applicant after lodging the complaint, abandoned the victim’s house and moved into a hotel but when the police went for him to assist in investigations into the whereabouts of the victim, they were informed that the suspect had checked out for an unknown destination.
He said the police subsequently learnt that the applicant, who held a Canadian passport, was in Accra preparing to fly back to Canada on the next available flight and the Tamale District Court issued a bench warrant for his arrest.
The prosecutor further said the applicant was not arrested during departure formalities but got arrested inside a Delta Air plane for which reason the plane had to be delayed for the applicant’s luggage to be removed.
It also turned out that the applicant changed his return flight date to an earlier date for which he had had to pay a penalty.
When the luggage of the applicant was searched, two Canadian and Ghanaian passports were found inside with one of the passports having expired.
Also retrieved were a digital camera, documents of a house, a laptop, an ipod, a Motorola phone battery, two phone chargers and two pen drives, all belonging to the victim.
The prosecutor said earlier, the plane ticket the applicant bought for the flight from Tamale to Accra was purchased with the name as that of the applicant’s brother-in-law.
He also said a new piece of cloth the victim bought to be presented to his mother on Mother’s Day celebration in May, 2007 was found in the possession of the sister of the applicant, who said her brother had given it to her.
Mr Abdul-Quddus further said that earlier, when the room of the victim was searched after his sudden disappearance, an amount of 3,000 euros, 700 pounds, cheques for GH¢750 and GH¢500 were found.