Gyan family respond to allegations

The family of Asamoah Gyan has issued a statement to deny any involvement in the disappearance of rapper Castro and friend Janet Bandu.

Castro – real name Theophilus Tagoe – and Bandu are said to have gone missing while using jet skis during a holiday with Gyan’s family at a resort in Ada, Ghana, in July.

No bodies were recovered following a search, prompting some media outlets to speculate over what might have happened to the pair, with one theory linking Al Ain frontman Gyan to a “spiritual sacrifice”.

But a statement read out by lawyer Kissi Agyabeng on Wednesday dismissed what it described as “absurd” and “ludicrous” allegations surrounding the Ghana captain.

“We have been silent while these wild allegations and rumours have been peddled in the media,” it read. “We have been silent not because we are concealing anything or that we do not feel the need to fully state what, from our reckoning, had happened in Ada. We have been silent because we did not want to interfere with police investigations.

“In our painful silence, we have been totally dismayed by the fact that the platform was provided for the peddling of these wild and ludicrous allegations and rumours against us. Those to whom the platform was provided offered no evidence whatsoever to back their statements. And indeed, the allegation of spiritual sacrifice can by no stretch of the imagination be propped up.

“Perhaps we should have come out earlier. But I have already explained why we could not.

“Now, we take the opportunity and state without the slightest doubt in our minds that we are not blameable for the disappearance of Castro and Janet Bandu. We had no hand in that occurrence. We have no moral or legal culpability whatsoever.

“None of us rode out into the open estuary with Castro and Janet Bandu. Castro rode out there on his own volition and none of us have the slightest idea as to what happened to them.

“We have only been guess working and conjecturing and making what appears to us to be intelligent deductions – in light of the facts available to us, especially the fact that when they rode out on the jet ski Janet Bandu was not wearing a life jacket.

“We are in unimaginable pain and shock and we will give anything to [get] Castro and Janet back.”

The family also appealed for a truce with the media, adding: “We are reaching out a friendly hand to journalists and the media. Please accept it. It is time to let the matter rest.”