It has emerged the KNUST lecturer, standing trial for kidnapping his missing wife, tried to influence a witness in the case to change his statement to the police.

The teaching assistant, Isaac Offei Aduamah, the first witness to be called by state prosecutors, was the embattled lecturer’s subordinate.

Dr Wilberforce Nkrumah Aggrey, who has been standing trial for kidnapping and deceit of a public officer, has been in custody since his arrest on October 6, 2021.

In an account of events on August 30, 2021, the teaching assistant told the court the embattled lecturer had a dress rehearsal with him on what he should tell police in his statement, something he declined.

In court on Thursday, May 12, 2022, Isaac Offei Aduamah, contradicted Dr Aggrey’s earlier claims that he slept in his house with his children on the day his wife went missing last year.

According to the witness, he and two other teaching assistants, whose names he gave as Michael and Ababio, slept with the lecturer’s kids at their hostel on 30th August 2021, the day Mrs Rhodaline Amoah-Darko, the wife of the lecturer, disappeared.

It was not until the next day that they sent the kids to the lecturer’s house to prepare them for school that the lecturer showed them a snake he allegedly killed in a polythene bag.

Dr Aggrey then went out with one of the teaching assistants, Ababio, to buy anti-snake repellant.

The witness told the court that Dr Aggrey showed him a picture of the statement he and another teaching assistant had given to police when he returned from Accra to Kumasi to write his statement.

He added that the lecturer insisted he memorised the statement to avoid inconsistencies, which he ignored.

According to Isaac Aduamah, the first accused person, after insisting on a mock statement, vetted a statement he authored and tried to influence his statement, but he ignored and gave a statement according to how events unfolded.

The first accused, Dr Wilberforce Nkrumah Aggrey, remained quiet and observed proceedings as he tried to look in the direction of his once teaching assistant, who avoided eye contact with him.  

In cross-examination, lawyers for Dr Wilberforce Aggrey insisted the witness’s statement was inaccurate and that it was not a true reflection of events.

The witness said he may have forgotten the sequence of events since he was overwhelmed.

The court adjourned the hearing to May 25, 2022.