A 34-year-old woman, Helena Oduro—also known as Yaa Ohenewa—has been remanded into police custody for allegedly kidnapping a 5-year-old girl from New Edubease in the Adanse South District of the Ashanti Region.

The victim, a KG1 pupil at Future Assurance Academy, was reported missing on March 2, 2025, after she failed to return home from school.

Her disappearance prompted widespread media appeals and a formal complaint to the police by her parents.

After more than two months of search efforts, the child was rescued on May 12, 2025, by the Tuobodom Police in the Bono Region.

Her rescue followed a tip-off from concerned neighbors who suspected foul play after observing the woman mistreating the girl.

The neighbors informed the police after noticing that Helena Oduro had brought the girl from New Edubease and was subjecting her to abuse.

Further police investigations confirmed that the child was indeed the same girl reported missing in early March.

Accompanied by the girl’s father, Opanin Kofi Essah, police traced and found the suspect and the child in Tuobodom. Reports indicate that the suspect attempted to change the girl’s appearance to avoid detection.

According to a video report by UTV on May 14, Helena had undone the child’s braids, shaved her head, and bleached her skin to alter her complexion.

The girl’s father revealed that the suspect was a neighbor in New Edubease, where she had been engaged in trading. He noted that Helena Oduro had reportedly been struggling with infertility and, in a desperate attempt to have a child, abducted the girl.

Shockingly, during the family’s frantic search, Helena had pretended to sympathize with them—concealing her role in the abduction.

Helena Oduro is currently in police custody and is scheduled to appear before the Obuasi Circuit Court on May 21, 2025.