JUST IN: Nigerian suspects sentenced to death over killing of Takoradi Girls.

A Sekondi High Court on Friday, March 5, 2021, sentenced to death two Nigerian nationals accused of kidnapping and killing four adolescent girls in the now-famous “Takoradi Girls” abduction case in the Western Region.

The heavy sentence was handed down by a seven-member jury that presided over the murder trial of the four girls.

The deceased are, Ruth Abakah, 19, Priscilla Blessing Bentum, 21, Ruthlove Quaison, 18, and Priscilla Mantebea Kuranchie, 15.

The girls were captured at Kansawrado and Nkroful Junction between July and August 2018 and murdered by the perpetrators.

It will be recalled that in January 2019, relatives, friends and some residents staged a demonstration demanding justice for the girls after months of fruitless search by the police CID.

This compelled the Western Regional Police Commander, DCOP Benson Redeemer Dedzo to hold an official press briefing during which he gave details on how the kidnappings happened for the first time.

The kidnappings became a national issue dominating the airwaves and on social media platforms.

Subsequently, the then CID Boss, Maame Yaa Tiwa Addo Dankwa in a press briefing in Accra on April 2, 2019, disclosed to the families of the victims that the girls were safe and that they knew where they were kept. She also assured them that together with the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) the girls would soon will be brought back home and reunited with their families.

Unfortunately, that promise never materialized causing the families of the girls to accuse her and the police of deception.

42 people kidnapped , One killed in a  state-run school in Niger.

The Police then stepped up their investigations which eventually led to the discovery of bones believed to belong to the kidnapped girls. The bones were found in a septic tank at a house that belonged to the lead suspect Samuel Udotek Wills.

DNA samples were taken from the bones and sent for analysis which confirmed that they were indeed the remains of the kidnapped girls.

At this stage, it became evident that indeed the kidnapped girls had been murdered by the two Nigerian suspects.

The court has sentenced them to death for the kidnapping and murder of the four Takoradi girls.