The suspects
Nicholas Kini, one of the two boys accused of killing an 11-year-old boy, Ishmael Abdallah at Kasoa in April 2021, has opened his defence, denying the charges and any knowledge of a plan to kill the deceased.
The accused, in his defence, also denied planning to kill the boy the night before with his co-accused (name withheld) prior to the gruesome murder which was said to be for money rituals.
The court has already heard that the young boy was still alive when the accused persons buried him in a shallow grave.
The first accused has confessed to the crime both at the District Court during the committal and at the High Court where they are standing trial.
Nicholas Kini, on the other hand, has denied the offence both at the District Court and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to murder and a substantive charge of murder at the High Court.
In his defence before a High Court in Accra yesterday, when his lawyer asked to tell the court what he knows about the young boy’s death, he said, “I do not know anything about the death of Ishmael Mensah Abdallah.”
“When the first accused spent the night in my house, we did not plan to kill Ishmael,” the accused said.
He continued that, “When he (co-accused) spent the night in my house, we did not discuss anything in relation to going to any place, and on that day he did not speak to anyone on phone when he was in my house. I told him the coming Monday, I would want to visit my home town.”
He said the first accused told him he would like to come along to his (Kini’s) home town because he had heard that there’s a lot of black magic there.
“The first accused also told me that he had won a lottery and that he had 500 cedis on his phone that day. I told him that I was feeling sleepy and I wanted to go to sleep. I turned off the light and we both slept,” he disclosed.
Asked what happened the next day, Kini said on April 4, 2021, when he and the first accused woke up, he told his friend to wash his face and start heading home since his father might be looking for him.
“After he freshened up, he left. The first accused left my house at about 5 to 6 am. I went to brush my teeth and that is when my grandfather asked me to warm the food, so I and my siblings can eat.”
He said he lit up the fire and was about to warm the food when he saw first accused’s father who, after asking him how he was doing, said needed the accused to help him with some work.
“So I asked him where his son was and he told me that [first accused] wasn’t feeling well so he could not assist him.
“I asked his father if he was aware that his son slept over in my house on Friday. The first accused’s father told me that his son did not tell him that but rather he told him that he slept in an uncompleted building close to their house,” Kini added.
Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, the presiding judge, adjourned the case to February 8 for continuation.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak