Pastor Eric Isaiah Adusah of the United King­dom-based Global Light Revival Ministries was remanded in police custody by an Accra Central Magistrate's Court over the death of his wife.

The issue has gone viral in the British media which has been following developments in Accra.

Pastor Adusah has been charged with murder  according to Section 46 of Act 29 of 1960 and his plea has not been taken by the court.

The prosecution, led by Detective Inspector Isaac Agbemehia, stated that pas­tor Adusah, between March 18 and March 20, 2015 at Mac Die Royal Plaza Hotel in Koforidua in the Eastern Region, allegedly caused the death of Ms Speirs by unlawful harm.

On his first appearance in court in the company of his lawyer, K.K. Adomako Acheampong on March 26, a relieving Magistrate Worlanyo Kotoku had signed his remand warrant.

He is expected to reap­pear in court on Thursday April 9, where the substantive Magistrate, Ms. Marian Affoh, will hear Pastor Adusah's case.

Facts on File

Briefing the court on the first hearing date, Inspector Agbemehia said the suspect is a Ghanaian by birth but resident in the UK with his wife, the deceased, and that the couple got married in September 2014 in the UK after a whirlwind romance.

He stated that in February this year, the deceased, who was about three months pregnant, was to travel to Ghana together with the accused, but she came ahead of him and stayed with Bishop Yaw Adu, the Spiritual father of the accused in Koforidua.

The police officer said in the first week of March 2015, Pastor Adusah also arrived in the country and that on March 16, both the accused and the deceased lodged at the Mac Die Royal Plaza Hotel in Koforidua.

Detective Inspector Agbemehia said in the early hours of March 18, 2015, the accused checked out and traveled to the UK while the deceased was billed to check out on March 20, 2015.

No Disturbances

The prosecutor averred that at the front desk of the hotel, pastor Adusah had instructed management not to disturb the deceased because she was observing fasting and prayers in her room and needed a quiet time until she checked out on Friday March 20.

Detective Inspector Agbemehia said on the day Ms Speirs was expected to check out, nothing was heard of her and the hotel's management became suspicious.

The prosecutor said the management then used a spare key to gain access to the room, whereupon they found the lifeless body of the deceased in a decomposed state in a bathtub, with blood oozing from her nose.

Murder

According to the prosecution, the condition of the body clearly showed that Ms Speirs died a couple of days earlier, a situation that raised their suspicion.

The police said their investigations showed that no one else entered the room after Pastor Adusah had left.

Detective Inspector Agbemehia said the Region­al CID, Koforidua, was informed and the body was removed and deposited at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital awaiting autopsy.

He stated that the Homicide Unit of the Ghana Police Service took over the investigations and on March 20, Bishop Yaw Adu informed the accused of the death of his wife.

The prosecutor said on March 22, Pastor Adusah arrived back in Ghana and reported himself to the police Regional CID, Koforidua, and he was arrested.

He however denied knowledge of the offence during interrogation.

Church on Murder

On April 3, Pastor Adusah's church with branches in London, Manchester and Edinburg, announced on its website the death of Ms Speirs.

It read, "Global Light Revival Church regrets to announce the passing away of our First Lady Mrs Charmaine Isaiah Adusah. The Church expresses our deepest sympathy to our Rev Eric Isaiah Adusah and the Speirs family and stand with them in prayer at this time."

On April 6, on the same website, the church urged members to remain calm as the police conducted investigations.

"The church wishes (sic) to appeal to all to remain patient pending investigations into the TRUE cause of death of our Charmaine Isaiah Adusah. In the mean­time our thoughts and prayers remain with Rev Eric Isaiah and the Speirs family."

Family Agony

According to UK's Daily Mail, the deceased's close friend Christine Stephen, 42, of Camberley, Surrey, who has known Mrs Adusah , since childhood, told The Mail on Sunday that the family did not hear about her death until March 21.

She said: "I spoke to Charmaine's family and they said Eric had been in touch on that Saturday to say she had died. He said he was flying back to Ghana to identify her body on Sun­day."

He also told them he had returned to England because there was a three- day church event he had to attend.

But he was vague about the details of what hap­pened, saying she had want­ed to remain out there to help underprivileged chil­dren.

"Charmaine's family could not get hold of him after that Saturday, presum­ably because he had been arrested back in Ghana."

Mrs Stephen said none of her friends talked to him.

"We thought he tried to cut her off from us, that he had brain-washed her. That per­son declares himself a prophet? Charmaine was religious but she wasn't a pastor."

Mrs Stephen said the family wanted to go to Ghana and repatriate their daughter's body but they could not afford it. Char­maine's mother, Linda Speirs, 61, said she had been given legal advice not to comment.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We con­firm the death of a British national in Ghana. Mr Adusah has not requested consular assistance", while a representative of Mr Adusah's church said: "There is no story. She died of natural causes."