An Accra High Court has changed its decision to try the two teenagers who allegedly killed an 11-year-old boy at Kasoa in the Central Region as juveniles.
The court on May 12, had indicated that the two would be tried as juveniles as they are considered to be to be young offenders under the Juvenile Justice Act.
The court, presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, yesterday indicated that the accused, who are 15 and 18 respectively, would now be tried by a jury.
She said she came to the decision following research and consultations, as well as taking into consideration the constitution and the Juvenile Act.
She, therefore, ordered the registrar of the court to summon able men and women to be empaneled as jurors for the trial on July 5.
Justice Marfo added that if at end of the trial the court finds the two guilty of the offences, the juvenile would be sent to the juvenile court for sentencing, while the young offender would also be dealt with according to the law.
The two teenagers were committed by a Kaneshie Magistrate Court last year August after it found that there was enough evidence for them to stand trial for the alleged murder of Ishmael Mensah Abdallah.
The court, during the committal proceedings, was shocked when one of the teenagers ‘confessed’ that they killed a pregnant woman prior to the gruesome killing of 11-year-old Ishmael Mensah Abdallah for money rituals.
He was surprised his accomplice was not willing to confess to the crime, insisting before open court that this was not the first time they had killed.
He also told the court how he had seen the ghost of the young boy (Abdallah), who threatened to kill him if he fails to confess to the crime.
The murder of the eleven-year-old boy stunned the nation when graphic pictures of the deceased in the midst of an angry crowd being prevented by the police from lynching the teenagers, went viral on social media and on mainstream media.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak