Pastor's killers remanded

Wednesday, October 20, 2010 (Second Lead Story)

THE Accra District Magistrate’s Court, presided over by Mr Kofi Ahiabor, yesterday remanded three persons for allegedly murdering an American missionary on his farm at Akwamu-Amanfo, near Nsawam on March 18, 2010.
Kofi Seidu, the driver and farm manager of the deceased, who confessed to the crime and led police officers to exhume the deceased’s body on October 11, 2010, was remanded alongside Pastor Goodwill Padmore, Principal of Prestige Secretarial and Business Academy, and Issaka Mohammed, a mason.
The accused persons are to reappear on November 2, 2010.
They have been charged with two counts of conspiracy and murder.
Their pleas were not taken.
The magistrate could not help, but comment after the facts of the case had been read that, “this is one of the saddest stories I have ever heard in my life.”
He then stated that the court would remand the accused persons while the processes for the committal to the High Court for trial begins.
Presenting the facts of the case, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr Cletus Adamlura, said the deceased, Reverend Sydney Thomas Barnes, was the founder of the Cross Road Christian Mission Inc and Proprietor of Prestige Secretarial and Computer School, both in Koforidua, where he had lived since 1997, and also owned the Manna Mission Farms at Akwamu-Amanfo.
He said on December 12, 2009, Rev Barnes proceeded on leave and, as was his usual practice, travelled to the US on holidays and was due back on March 18, 2010. Seidu, who had been in the employment of the deceased for the past 12 years, was asked to pick him up at the airport.
The prosecutor said Pastor Padmore dispatched Seidu from Koforidua to Accra to pick up the deceased from the Kotoka International Airport with a Land Rover, with registration number WR 418 P.
According to the prosecution, Seidu called Padmore on phone around 11.30 p.m. on March 18, 2010 and informed him that the deceased had not arrived.
Seidu allegedly drove the said Land Rover to Nsawam Adoagyiri and on arrival, a witness in the case detected that Seidu had sustained injuries on both hands.
The prosecution said Seidu told the witness, who had enquired about the cause of the injuries, that he (Seidu) got involved in an accident with a Caucasian friend who was on admission at the St. Joseph Hospital in Koforidua.
On that same day, Seidu gave a laptop to a witness in the case to open for him and upon booting the laptop, the picture of the deceased appeared on the screen.
A tourist bag believed to be the property of the deceased was also found in the Land Rover and upon enquiry, Seidu told the witness that the bag belonged to the Caucasian friend of his.
Following the disappearance of Rev. Barnes, a complaint was lodged with the police, who eventually effected the arrest of Seidu.
During interrogation, Seidu allegedly confessed to killing Rev. Barnes and mentioned Pastor Padmore and Mohammed as his accomplices.
Seidu eventually led a team of police officers from the Homicide Unit and pathologists from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to Akwamu-Amanfo, where he identified the grave in which he had buried Rev. Barnes.
On October 13, 2010, pathologists performed an autopsy on Rev. Barnes body and are yet to submit their report.