A second attempt by a lawyer to secure bail for a taxi driver who bragged on television and radio that he has killed human beings for rituals has failed at an Accra Circuit Court.
Theophilus Donkor, counsel for Felix Ansah, 35, tried yesterday without success to get bail pending the trial.
The application came after the prosecution had told the court that they needed more time to follow up on some new leads.
The prosecution, led by Inspector Princess Tetteh Boafour, told the court presided over by Her Honour Rosemond Baah Torsu, that they have received fresh information that required them to travel across the country to do further investigation to establish the veracity of the chilling claims made by the accused person who claims to be a fetish priest as well.
His lawyer had pushed for bail for him, arguing that the prosecution had come to court “with a blank sheet for the court to fill it for them.”
He told the court that the case against his client is more of “a spiritual thing than it looks” hence he should be admitted to bail and described the invitation to remand the accused person into custody as being in bad taste.
In taking the decision, the court indicated that the time given to the prosecution at the last sitting to bring the suspect to court was so short.
She, therefore, refused the application for bail and remanded the accused person to reappear on September 28.
After the ruling, counsel for the accused person alleged that his client was not being fed while in custody.
The prosecutor however, told the court that she was only hearing the claim for the first time and assured the court to ensure that the concern of the accused person is addressed if the claims were true.
Ritual Murders
The brief facts of the case per court document indicated that sometime in September this year, the attention of the police was drawn to a statement made or published on the ‘Maakye’ show on Onua Television by the accused to the effect that he buried a pregnant woman alive at Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region.
It said upon the receipt of the information, the police launched investigation into the matter which led to the arrest of the accused.
The document indicated that preliminary investigation into the matter revealed that the accused is a taxi driver and resides at Weija in Accra.
It said it was also established during investigation that on September 2, 2021 on Onua TV’s morning show dubbed ‘Maakye’ with Captain Smart as host, the accused in a response to a question from the host stated that he (accused) had killed several persons in the past.
“Additionally, the accused person also stated that he buried a pregnant woman alive at Ashaiman to perform sacrifice for Alfred Agbesi, the former NDC MP for Ashaiman,” the document said.
It added that the police are yet to extend their investigation to locate the alleged burial site as well as those of the supposed victims of the ritual mentioned by the accused person.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak