issued a warrant for the arrest<\/a> of a\u00a017-year-old suspect.<\/p>\nDays since have been ‘a nightmare,’ says girlfriend<\/p>\n
Through a statement from Hamilton police, Sarkodie’s family said she was an “affable person known for her warmth, kindness and gentle spirit,” and\u00a0leaves behind a sister and\u00a0mother in Ghana, and a brother who lives in Manitoba.<\/p>\n
Sarkodie\u00a0worked at the Hamilton airport, but made it a habit to visit Jackson Square on Fridays for grocery shopping.<\/p>\n
Her girlfriend\u00a0Grace Nasiru\u00a0also worked with her at the airport.\u00a0Nasiru\u00a0joined Aidoo outside Jackson Square on Monday.<\/p>\n
She said Sarkodie\u00a0had been\u00a0working a lot, and they had made\u00a0plans to go out and enjoy last weekend. They had spoken that morning to iron out details of their outing, Nasiru said.<\/p>\n
Nasiru said Sarkodie\u00a0called in the afternoon, less than an hour before she was shot, to check up on her since she\u00a0was also having a busy week.<\/p>\n
“I got off the phone\u00a0with her, like just 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and [a friend] called me back that my friend is lying here dead,” Nasiru\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/grace-nasiru.jpg\")
Grace Nasiru was Sarkodie’s girlfriend. They also worked together at the airport. Nasiru travelled to downtown Hamilton on Friday to identify her body. (Aura Carre\u00f1o Rosas\/CBC)<\/p>\n
She said Sarkodie was standing with a mutual friend at the bus stop when the friend walked away to check if the bus was coming soon.<\/p>\n
“When he turned, my sister\u00a0was on the floor.”<\/p>\n
The friend\u00a0called Nasiru first, and she and others immediately left\u00a0work and travelled downtown to identify Sarkodie’s body. One of them told CBC News that the body was covered with a blanket when they arrived.<\/p>\n
The days since have been a “nightmare,” said Nasiru, who told CBC Hamilton after initial publication of this article that the two were a couple.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She also said\u00a0Sarkodie\u00a0sought refuge in Canada as a\u00a0member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarkodie, one of several Ghanaian women working in\u00a0the airport’s ground handling area, was a hard worker and\u00a0“favoured” by supervisors, she added.<\/p>\n
“If you go to my workplace, it’s not an easy thing.\u00a0They are not even able to work. They are all devastated.”<\/p>\n
Vigil planned for Friday downtown<\/p>\n
Nasiru\u00a0said Sarkodie was trying to save money to\u00a0continue her education in environmental science, after graduating with honours in Ghana.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Emmanuel\u00a0Duodu, president of the\u00a0Ghanaian-Canadian Association of Ontario (GCAO), said he was shocked about Sarkodie’s death.<\/p>\n
He didn’t know her personally, but heard from the community that\u00a0she was a smart and personable woman with “hopes and aspirations” in Canada.<\/p>\n
“What I’m telling everyone in our community is that we have to stay strong,” he said.<\/p>\n
Duodu\u00a0said he wants to encourage the Ghanaian community in Canada to go about their lives without fear. “This doesn’t reflect the community we live in,\u00a0in this country.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/belinda-sarkodie.jpeg\")
Sarkodie worked at the Hamilton airport with other women from Ghana. They also often spent time together while not at work. (belsark\/TikTok)<\/p>\n
Duodu said many people, both within and outside the community,\u00a0have reached out, asking what they can do to help.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“At this point, I think we are also trying to\u00a0gather ourselves to do some little fundraising here and there for the burial.”<\/p>\n
The GCAO\u00a0set up a GoFundMe, aiming to raise $40,000\u00a0for Sarkodie’s funeral and to support her family.<\/p>\n
The Ghanaian Association of Hamilton said in a media release Tuesday it is “with deep shock and profound sadness,” and it mourns “the tragic death of a member of our community.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
It said a vigil for\u00a0Sarkodie is planned for Friday from 5-6 p.m. at King and James streets. The association said it\u00a0is also working with other Ghanaian organizations to assist the family back in Ghana.<\/p>\n
Aidoo said Sarkodie’s family wants to travel\u00a0to Canada to say their last goodbyes to\u00a0their\u00a0loved one.<\/p>\n
She also said the family and community hope for an arrest and charges.<\/p>\n
“Belinda deserves justice.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belinda Sarkodie left Ghana in 2024 to seek refuge in Canada.\u00a0On Friday, she was killed in Hamilton while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,348],"class_list":["post-1411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/evelyn-aidoo.jpg\")
Evelyn Aidoo, who spoke to CBC Hamilton by the bus stop where Sarkodie was killed, said Sarkodie was a refugee who ‘thought she was safe’ in Canada. (Aura Carre\u00f1o Rosas\/CBC)<\/p>\n![\"Flowers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/flowers-for-belinda-sarkodie.JPEG\")
Sarkodie’s loved ones gathered near Jackson Square on Monday to place flowers at the bus shelter where she was killed a few days earlier. (Justin Chandler\/CBC)<\/p>\n