Togolese mason convicted for abducting four-year-old boy from Volta Region

The Adentan Circuit Court has convicted a 25-year-old Togolese mason, David Kpandoyo, after he pleaded guilty to stealing a four-year-old boy from Kpedze in the Volta Region and taking him to Accra.

Presiding judge Angela Attachie convicted Kpandoyo on his own plea and adjourned sentencing to July 14, 2026.

In his statement before the court, Kpandoyo claimed he had been drinking alcohol when the child approached him. He said he gave the boy some money and took him home but could not recall subsequent events because he had become intoxicated.

The prosecution, led by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Patience Mario with Chief Inspector Jacob Nyarko, identified the complainant as Bismark Gbago, a 52-year-old painter living at New Legon in Accra. The child’s mother, Patience Ablordefey Afefa, is a 25-year-old hairdresser who lives with her son, a Kindergarten One pupil, in Kpedze.

According to the prosecution, the child disappeared from Kpedze on the evening of July 1, 2026. Two days later, Mr Gbago reported to the New Legon Police that he had found the young boy wandering in the community and that the child was unable to identify where he lived.

Police investigations revealed that after announcements were made in the area, Kpandoyo came forward claiming the child was his son. He accompanied the complainant to the police station but failed to produce any documents, including a birth certificate, to support his claim or lead officers to the child’s mother.

Later that day, police received a missing child flyer containing the boy’s photograph and the contact details of his mother. Officers contacted her and asked her to report to the station with the child’s birth certificate and weighing card after informing her that another individual had claimed to be the child’s parent.

On July 6, the child’s mother and her relatives arrived at the station and confirmed they did not know Kpandoyo. During investigations, the accused admitted in his cautioned statement that the boy was not his son and confessed that he had abducted the child while working in Kpedze before taking him to Accra.