Lucas Agboyie
The Attorney General’s Department appears to be gasping for breath over the prosecution of the 22-year-old self-confessed killer, who is being tried for allegedly strangulating a seven-year-old girl to death and having sex with the corpse for three hours.
This time round, the AG, represented by Francesca Tete-Mensah, a senior state attorney, said the trial had once again been dragging on because of what she described as “administrative delays.”
According to her, the supposed “administrative delays” had affected the preparation of the Bill of Indictment of the accused, Lucas Agboyie aka Gabriel or Kojo.
She stated that state attorneys were on strike for three months but was aware that the prosecutor then had requested for two weeks to prepare the Bill of Indictment.
Among other litany of complaints, the senior state attorney said even the copy of the document she showed to the court was typed by herself, stressing that the official copy of the Bill of Indictment when ready, would be filed at the high court.
Touching on the charges to be preferred against the accused nicknamed, Sympathy or Sky Lover, Mrs. Tete-Mensah said that the accused would also be charged for defilement.
She told the court presided over by Magistrate Worlanyo Kotoku that “Sympathy would not be charged on the three wraps of wee found on him but it was for the judge to take cognizance and enhance the judgement.
Mrs. Tete-Mensah indicated that the state had since last year been ready for the summary trial for the charge of defilement.
Adjourning the case, the magistrate said the explanation of the prosecution had been based on the strike, adding that the prosecution of the case should not have delayed.
The court held that the first time the accused appeared in the court was in April 24, 2015 but on June 25 the AG’s office was informed about the trial.
Sitting continues on March 16, 2017.
Lucas Agboyie last year told the court that he smoked wee and informed the victim that he wanted to have sex with her.
He said the pleas from Ruth (victim) to spare her life could not dissuade him from strangulating her to death.
He said he had sex with the corpse in his metal container at Kubekro No. 1, near Atadeka at Ashaiman, near Tema on April 19, 2015.
Lucas Agboyie stressed that he was rueful and claimed that he did not know what led him to kill the girl.
Stunned by the confession of Sympathy, the magistrate repeatedly asked the accused whether he knew Ruth was dead before having sex with her, which he answered in the affirmative.
Charged with murder contrary to Sections 46 of Act 29/60, the plea of Sympathy has not been taken.
Ruth was a Class One pupil of the Meshach Academy School at Zenu, also in Ashaiman, who lived with her mother at Kubekro where the accused also lived about 200 metres away from them.
At 8 am on Sunday, April 19, 2015, the mother of the deceased prepared porridge and sent her with GH¢20 to go and buy bread from a nearby shop for their breakfast.
The parents became alarmed and searched for her in the area when she failed to return home after a long period of time. An informant told the complainant that she saw Sympathy pulling the girl into his metal container.
As a result, a search team entered the said container but Lucas Agboyie was not there.
The team rather found Ruth’s naked body lying dead in a supine position on an old student’s mattress with blood oozing from her mouth and nostrils, and this led to the arrest of Agboyie.
When questioned, the accused confessed that he killed Ruth and had sex with her afterwards.
The accused initially insisted he killed Ruth on his own volition but later mentioned one Baba Ali as the one who contracted him to murder the girl for money, house and a car.
Sympathy has however, not been able to lead the police to the said Baba.
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
jeffdegraft44@yahoo.com