Death of 13-year-old boy remains murky

The weather was good and steady, with dusk washing blue over the city. At Mile 7, New Achimota, a suburb of Accra, Ghana, the sun cut with a steady breeze. Kneeling in front of a dining table in his room, thirteen-year-old Frank Darko says a prayer before telling his mum that he was off to swim at the De Tempo Hotel with his little friends. That marked the last time Darko was ever seen.

While a medical report signed by Dr. Marcia Maria Cruz Elecia, a pathologist at police hospital said the basic cause of his death was strangulation, management of De Tempo Hotel insist they found the dead body of Frank Darko drowned in their swimming pool. Dr. Marcia Maria Cruz Elecia's report, signed on 12/8/09 said that the intermediate cause of Darko's death was a completely broken neck, throwing a web of mystery around the boy's death.

As days wear on, residents of New Achimota (Mile 7) where young Darko lived are fussing and fretting over his death. They suspect foul play in the boy's death. "No one can be deceived into thinking that this boy drowned in that swimming pool. Kids younger than him go there to swim and always return. The family needs to probe to get to the bottom of this matter", Asamoah, a resident of the area said.

Like Asamoah, most residents interviewed by the New Crusading Guide chorused a natural suspicion of the strange circumstances surrounding the boy's death. A visit to the morgue by our team and subsequent interviews with medical personnel who examined the boy's body present a gloomy picture on what might have caused the boy's death.

The Ghana Police is currently investigating the matter, placing it on a high priority list through a transfer from the local police to the Police Head Quarters.

Our investigations revealed that one nine-year-old Kwame Ahomka (not real name), a playmate of Frank's, who brought his Clothes home told Frank's mother of the sudden disappearance of Frank while they were at the pool.

Madam Vida Aboagyiwaa, mother of Frank Darko was visibly angry, as she spoke to journalists.
"They killed my son; the hotel has a question to answer,” she cried.

Darko's mother is shocked at the death of her 13-year old son and argues that the hotel has to answer the cause of her son's death. The mother of the deceased said that “everybody in the neighborhood knew that my son is a very good swimmer and could not have died through drowning in the pool. Moreover we searched the pool 6 times, looked everywhere in the pool and my son was nowhere to be found, we used the hotel long pole to scratch and search every part under the pool. There are bright lights under the Pool, they were all on and we still did not find Frank. So how can the Management of the hotel say that they later found my son dead in the pool? That is why I insisted that an autopsy be conducted on my son. The hotel has to tell the world how my son got strangled and by whom? I will fight tooth and nail to ensure that whoever in that hotel killed my son is brought to book" madam Vida Aboagyiwaa told lamented.

Frank's father, WO1 Owusu Damptey (rtd), speaking from New York in the United States of America where he is domiciled, fumed "I am outraged about the current situation. My son could not have died in the pool, I call on state institutions to look into the murder of my son because I do not think the hotel has clean hands; the managers must be probed, I would spend my last penny to get to the bottom of this bizarre murder."

A family friend who did not want to be named told said on that fateful evening when Darko was not returning home she decided to go and look for him. "I went to the hotel four good times and the hotel guys told me he was not there; though his cloths had been brought home by his colleagues without him.
Darko always spent his time at my house and I was shattered at the news" she said via a telephone interview.

The story of the Tempo Hotel
Joe Aboagye Debrah, of 1st Law chambers, the solicitor of De Tempo hotel said his clients were equally shocked about the death of Frank Darko and were prepared to co-operate with the law enforcement agencies to unravel the mystery of the death. Joe Aboagye Debrah said that he had seen a copy of the autopsy report which said that the boy was strangled to death, adding that, they have instructed all their staff to co-operate with the police to unravel what killed the boy. He said he was aware that the family checked the pool the previous day and could not find the body of the boy. Asked whether the pool had a pool instructor, Lawyer Debrah said, the hotel had two pool attendants and that the main pool attendant was absent that day leaving the other attendant on duty.