THIEVES BROKE INTO OTABIL'S HOUSE (PAGE 1 B)

25/07/08
Story: Mary Mensah
Thieves have broken into the Trasaaco Valley residence of one of Ghana’s most respected Men of God, Pastor Mensah Otabil, and made away with some personal belongings.
Items stolen from the house included two laptops, two mobile phones and an unspecified amount of money.
The pastor, who was asleep in his bedroom, only discovered the break-in and theft when he and his family woke up on Wednesday morning. He then reported the matter to the East Legon Police.
Mr Albert Rockson, Director of Administration at the Christ Temple confirmed the theft and said it could not be associated with robbery because there was no threat of violence on anybody.
He said also that there was no damage to any of the doors so it could either be that one of the doors was not properly locked or that the thieves had a spare key to one of the doors.
“The whole incident looks bizarre because they could have taken more things than they have done. There were some other things there which were untouched,” he said.
According to the Commander of the Legon District Police, DSP Saddik Osei, the pastor had retired to bed with his family on Tuesday night and when he woke up the following morning and entered the sitting room, he realised that there had been a break in and two laptops and the other items were missing.
The commander said when the report was made to the East Legon Police, a team of policemen, including crime scene investigators, was dispatched to the house.
DSP Osei said luckily the pastor and his family had not tampered with the evidence so the fingerprints on the items in the hall and those of the other residents of the house were taken.
He said investigations revealed that the thieves scaled the wall from the back of the house because that provided them with an easier option than the main gate.
He said the wall around the house was very short and there was no security presence there, compared with other houses in the area.
The commander said no arrest had been made but that investigations would continue and appealed to members of the public to endeavour to be security conscious by putting in place measures that would ward off criminals from their property.