US missionary murdered in cold blood
KOFI SEIDU, a 33-year-old driver, who supposedly killed a British-American missionary of the Calvary Chapel, USA, Rev. Sidney Thomas Barnes, has been arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service.
Briefing the media at the CID Headquarters in Accra yesterday, the Acting Director-General of the outfit, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Prosper Kwame Agblor, narrated that Seidu murdered Rev. Barnes in cold blood at Adawso in the Eastern Region. The man of God has been reported missing for sometime now.
He later transported his lifeless body, which was wrapped in plastic and buried it in a well at the deceased person's own pineapple and pawpaw farm at Akwamu-Amanfo, near Nsawam-Adoagyiri.
After he confessed to committing the heinous crime, Seidu led a team of police investigators and pathologists from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to the scene on Monday, where the corpse was exhumed from the well. 'The body is now lying at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital morgue awaiting autopsy,' DCOP Agblor said.
Again, the purported murderer attempted to sell the deceased person's laptop computer to a friend (name withheld for security reasons), who later found out that it belonged to the late Rev. Barnes. He further asked the friend to change a $100 bill into Ghanaian cedis for him, but the friend declined.
Ironically, Seidu, and one Pastor Padmore Goodwill, who was recruited as a resident Pastor of the Manna House Mission, a local branch of the Calvary Chapel, USA, reported the sudden disappearance of Rev. Barnes to the International Police (INTERPOL) unit of the CID in June this year.
The late Rev. Barnes proceeded on leave to the US on December 27, 2009, and was expected back in the country on Thursday, March 18, 2010.
The Police boss noted that on the arrival date, Pastor Goodwill informed Seidu to pick the late Rev. Barnes from the Kotoka International Airport to Koforidua, in his (Rev. Barnes') Land Rover vehicle, with registration number WR 418 P.
Seidu later sold the vehicle to someone in Sefwi Wiawso, and frantic efforts are being made to identify the buyer.
Seidu, according to the police, went back to tell Pastor Goodwill that Rev. Barnes did not arrive in Ghana as scheduled.
Intelligence gathered by the CID in the US revealed that Rev. Barnes was given a ride to Lax, a town in the US, by his friend, Chuck Burney, on March 15, 2010.
He flew to London on a British Airways plane, using E-ticket number 1257465295192, which he purchased through the Travel Leaders.
Reports further indicate that the late Rev. Barnes arrived in London and checked in at a hotel in Heathrow. He left London for Ghana two days after, using the same airline and E-ticket.
'Our investigations also disclosed that Rev. Barnes did arrive at the Kotoka International Airport on March 18, 2010 at 22:03 hours, via British Airways,' the CID boss maintained.
This credible information led to the arrest of Seidu on September 26, 2010 at Koforidua, and during interrogation, he denied ever seeing the late Rev. Barnes on March 18, this year.
The 'killer', DCOP Agblor indicated, gave in to the police on October 4, and admitted killing Rev. Barnes.
Background checks on Seidu showed that he dropped out of school at Primary '6', and even though he is not married, has two children, both girls, aged seven and four years respectively.
He has been a driver for the past 16 years, and in 1997 he met Pastor Johnson and the late Rev. Barnes in Koforidua. Both Pastors used to run the Manna House Mission.
Pastor Johnson promised to offer Seidu an employment opportunity as a driver of the church, but since there was no vehicle at that particular time, he run errands for them until the church bought a bus in the year 2000, when he became the driver.
In the later part of the year, DCOP noted, a misunderstanding ensued between both men of God, and therefore they parted company.
The late Rev. Barnes, according to the police, rented a new place to continue with the church activities, and through that, Pastor Goodwill was also recruited as a Resident Pastor of the church.
They also entered into a partnership later on, and set up the Prestige Secretarial and Computer School in the Eastern Regional capital, and a pineapple and pawpaw farm at Nsawam.
However, when the bus broke down, Seidu was made the farm manager at Nsawam. 'We wish to use this opportunity to thank all those who contributed in diverse ways to this success story. We assure the general public that we will make good use of any information they provide us in our investigations,' DCOP acknowledged.