The circuit court in Takoradi has adjourned the case involving Josephine Panyin Mensah (Simons), the 28-year-old woman at the centre of a supposed full-term pregnancy and kidnapping to 11 November.
It follows the inability of the prosecutor to furnish the court with the full documents they would rely on for the trial.
The prosecutor was also absent in court today.
Simons, who has allegedly confessed that she invented the whole story to “satisfy” her husband, was granted GHC50,000 bail at her first court appearance on 25 September.
She has been charged with deceit of a public officer and false publication with intent to cause fear and panic.
Mensah’s story went viral after it was reported last week that she had gone missing in Takoradi while out on a morning walk. She was said to be nine months pregnant.
She was later found in Axim, also in the Western Region.
Arrest
The police arrested her on Friday evening (24 September) after she allegedly confessed that the story was a hoax.
In a Facebook post, the police said: “The suspect, Josephine Panyin Mensah, 28, has confessed to the police during further investigations and stated that neither was she pregnant nor ever being [sic] kidnapped.”
The police had initially informed the public that two separate tests proved that the woman was never pregnant.
The mobile telephone number used to call family members in Takoradi to demand a ransom was actually registered in her name, the state-owned Daily Graphic quotes top police sources as saying.
The woman’s mother and husband, Michael Simons, who were being kept in police custody as suspects, were released late Friday evening.
Fred Dzakpata
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