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From LR: Ruth Love Quayson, Ruth Abeka, Priscilla Blessing Bentum and Priscilla Koranchie
Chief physician of the forensic team in charge of DNA analysis of the skeletal remains of the 4 missing Takoradi girls, superintendent. Dr. Kofi Agyapong Afrifa has confirmed that the remains found are indeed the missing girls.
His confirmation of the findings comes after lawyers for the two Nigerians accused of murdering the Takoradi girls expressed doubts about the DNA conclusion of their reports.
He claimed that the final part of his findings showed that there is a genetic affinity between the remains and the parents of the victims.
Dr. Afrifa testified during a 2-hour interrogation in a Sekondi court chaired by Judge Richard Adjei Frimpong on Thursday, October 22, that his team used the Standard Tandem Repeat (STR) analysis, which obeys all analysis protocols of Standard DNA to reach your conclusion.
“Our DNA analysis concluded that the skeletal remains found are those of the four missing Takoradi girls,” he said.
He explained to the court that the team had performed a meticulous analysis with samples from both the skeletal remains and the parents of the four victims, adding that the conclusion on their findings is beyond question.
“We took DNA samples from 4 skulls from the morgue of the Ghana Police Hospital and proceeded to take mouth swabs from the alleged parents and siblings of the 4 victims. After our analysis, we discovered that for the Koranchie family, Alexander Kofi Koranchie, who is the presumed father of the missing Priscilla Mantebea Koranchie, shares a common allele with Skull 4 at all loci tested.
“The reported relationship probability that is the Combined Paternity Index (CPI) is 25767.9834. The probability of paternity is 99.99 percent. And for the Abekah family, we found out that Cecilia Owusu, who is the alleged mother of the late Ruth Abekah, shares a common allele with Skull 3 at all loci tested. The declared relationship probability that is the Combined Maternity Index (CMI) is 202552413.7053 and the probability of maternity is 99.99 percent, ”she said.
“For the Quayson family, we discovered that Comfort Arhin, who is the alleged mother of the late Ruthlove Quayson, shares a common allele with Skull 1 at all loci tested. That the reported relationship probability that is the Combined Maternity Index (CMI) is 53160961.519 and the probability of maternity is 99.99 percent.
“And for the Bentum family, we discovered that Francis Bentum Ackon, who is the father of Priscilla Blessing Bentum, and Gladys Bentum, the mother of Priscilla Blessing Bentum, share a common allele with Skull 2 at all loci tested. That the reported relationship probability that is the Combined Paternity Index (CPI) is 1293669.4766 and the Combined Maternity (CMI) is 11703487616.3591. The probability of paternity and maternity is 99.99 percent, “he added.
He concluded that “Skull 1 cannot be excluded as the biological daughter of Madam Comfort Arhin. Skull 2 cannot be excluded as the biological daughter of Mr. Francis Bentum Ackon and Madame Gladys Bentum. Skull 3 cannot be excluded as the biological daughter of Mrs. Cecilia Owusu and Skull 4 cannot be excluded as the biological daughter of Mr. Alexander Kojo Koranchie ”.
However, Dr. Afrifa answered affirmatively to the defense team’s attorney, Mark Bosiah, when asked if the team could have used an alternative method of analysis.
He gave ‘Next Generation Sequencing’ as another method that could have been used, but did not fail to indicate that the method is still in the development stage.
“Even if that methodology is used, the results will remain the same,” he insisted.
The attorney for the first defendant, Samuel Odoetuk-Wills, George Essilful-Ansah, who initiated the cross-examination of the prosecution witness, expressed disappointment at the DNA finding.
According to him, the DNA conclusion does not determine whether the skeletal remains date back to when the girls were reported to have died.
“I even hinted that given the date they were supposed to be missing… they should be able to tell that these bones, how old they are. That would have been very material, ”he said.
