Matilda Amissah-Arthur, wife of the late former Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, has given a blow-by-blow account of her experience in the wee hours of Tuesday, December 5, 2023 when she was robbed and nearly killed.
Mrs. Amissah-Arthur recounted her ordeal in a video posted on Facebook on Sunday, June 9, 2024.
Recalling the night she was robbed, the former Second Lady said she had left her door unclosed and switched off her lights in the room before going to bed.
However, on the fateful night, she was awakened by the light in her room which was turned on by the armed robber.
She said she woke up to put off her light only to find herself before a masked man dressed in all-black and holding a gun.
The intruder then ordered her not to move or he will shoot.
“I thought I was dreaming. So, I sat on my bed and rubbed my face just to be sure that I wasn’t dreaming. And there he was, standing there. He said if you shout and somebody comes, I will kill them and kill you,” she narrated.
According to her, the armed robber then demanded for cash which she complied and gave away $2,200 which was meant for renovation of her mother’s house, €50 of her own money and some cedi notes she had in her purse.
The armed robber unsatisfied with the money given to him, requested for gold jewelries.
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Mrs. Amissah-Arthur responded saying she does not typically wear jewelry but eventually surrendered a gold watch, necklace, and earrings to her attacker.
“And then he started, you wasted my time so I will kill you and that I want to call my boss…By this time, he had dragged me from the bed and put me on the ground hitting my head on the floor.
“He spoke on the phone for a couple of minutes and said, ‘My boss says I should shoot you, but I won’t shoot you, I will strangle you so that you’ll die a slow death and next time you come, you’ll have money.’ So he started strangling me,” she said.
At this point, fear had immensely gripped Mrs. Amissah-Arthur after a gun was held to her ears. As terrified as she was, she begun to God for help.
But the robber said “don’t waste your time to pray because you are dieing.”
Mrs. Amissah-Arthur narrated the horrifying moments when the thief nearly rendered her unconscious by continuously strangling her.
She recounted that at a point she had requested for water and strangely, the thief brought some but gave her only a quick sip before carrying on with the attack.
“I got thirsty at some point and I said, “I am thirsty.” He actually stopped strangling me, went and took mater from the fridge in my bedroom, opened it, and put it in my mouth, just when I started drinking, he snapped it, closed it, and continued strangling me,” she said.
Throughout the ordeal, Mrs Amissah-Arthur who was left helpless said she prayed fervently, asking for God’s mercy not only for herself but also for her attacker.
“When you are in the valley of the shadow of death, and an armed robber is holding a gun to your head and strangling you and you are choking, there is nothing you can do. But I realised that there’s one thing I can do is call my God. Not just to help me, but to help him,” she recounted.
After minutes of being strangled and assaulted by the robber, the former second lady passed out .
According to her, while she had passed out, she had a vision and found herself walking in a serene environment with beautiful buildings and street which had never seen before.
“All I heard was now you’re dieing. The next thing I see, I’m waling in some street, beautiful buildings. The streets are super. When I get close to somebody, they turned they won’t look at me,” she said.
In this serene place, she said she started filling a basket with flowers until she felt a hand on her wrist and heard a voice saying, “It is time to go.”
Mrs. Amissah-Arthur survived the attack and received treatment at the hospital.
Meanwhile, the police have already arrested one Yahuza Osumanu for his connection to the incident and several other robberies around Airport, Cantonments, Tesano and Ridge all in Accra.
Yahuza Osumanu has pleaded not guilty to 26 counts of robbery and money laundering.
The accused person has been denied bail and is still in custody.
