Police investigate murder of Tema Port Marketing Manager

The Tema Regional Police Command has launched investigations into the murder of the Marketing and Public Relations Manager of the Tema Port, Mrs Josephine Asante, in the early hours of yesterday by an unknown assailant.

She is alleged to have been stabbed several times in the abdomen at her home at the Emefs Estate, near Tema, on the Tema-Akosombo Highway.

Mrs Asante’s 12-year-old son called her driver, Mr Amos Apraku, at about 8 a.m. yesterday that his mother had failed to wake up after returning home from an event the previous night.

According to the Afienya District Police Commander, Superintendent Charles Agyei, the incident was believed to have happened at about 3 a.m. yesterday, during which an unknown assailant pounced on the deceased, aged 49, who was fast asleep after returning from an end of year dinner organised by her employers, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), last Saturday night.

The husband of the deceased, Mr Kwame Asante, is believed to have travelled outside the country and is due to return today and was, therefore, not available at the time of the incident.

Initial facts

Superintendent Agyei said Mr Apraku, who came to lodge the complaint about the incident, said he was at the deceased’s residence to check on her after receiving the distress call from the young boy, but found her bedroom locked and upon peeping through the windows saw her lying in a pool of blood.
 
He said the police dispatched a team of officers to the scene, where they forcibly opened the bedroom door. The keys were later found in the main compound.

They also found some knife wounds on the body of the deceased.

Superintendent Agyei said the police had ruled out robbery, since the deceased’s valuables such as jewellery, mobile phones, laptops and some amount of money, which were all exposed in her bedroom, were left untouched.

“Presently, our crime scene experts are visiting the scene to conduct analysis to aid our investigations.

We have also invited the deceased’s house boy (name withheld), who was alleged to have in his possession a wrist watch belonging to Mrs Asante, for interrogation”, Superintendent Agyei added.

Residence

When the Daily Graphic visited Mrs Asante’s residence yesterday, the police crime scene investigators were there conducting their analysis, while two women believed to be her relatives  were also in the house.

Some residents in the estate, which is a gated community, occasionally called in to ascertain the veracity of the information they had received.

Some management members of the GPHA were also at the scene.
 
The Director of the Tema Port, Mr Edward Osei, with whom Mrs Asante worked closely, was among those at the residence. He declined any comment.

Meanwhile, the body of the deceased has been conveyed to the Police Hospital Morgue for autopsy and preservation.