Daniel Asiedu
DANIEL ASIEDU, aka Sexy Don Don, is set to face another trial for allegedly robbing and killing the then Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North, the late JB Danquah-Adu.
This was after a seven-member jury returned a 4:3 not guilty verdict on two charges of robbery and murder.
Four of the jurors found him not guilty for both robbery and murder while the remaining three found him guilty for the two offences.
This resulted in a hung jury, thereby requiring a retrial by a new jury as demanded by section 286 of Act 30.
Daniel Asiedu was standing trial over the murder of the late MP at his residence at Shiashie, near East Legon on February 9, 2016.
The prosecution led by Sefakor Batse, Principal State Attorney, called eight (8) witnesses in a bid to prove the guilt of the accused persons.
‘Confession’
On July 18, 2022, the court admitted documents in which Daniel Asiedu admitted to stabbing the late MP during a confrontation when he went to his Shiashie residence with the intention to rob.
The accused, in a startling admission, demonstrated how he went into the late MP’s bedroom through his window in a robbery that led to his death.
The admission is contained in a video recorded during the interrogation of the accused as well as videos of a reconstruction of the crime scene in the late MP’s house, and was admitted by an Accra High Court where the accused is standing trial for murder.
Terrible Guy
A now retired Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Douglas Nkrumah, during his testimony had told the court that Daniel Asiedu is a terrible person who is capable of killing the late JB Danquah-Adu.
The ex-cop, who investigated the murder of the MP about eight years ago, was rebuffing a claim by lawyer for the accused that his client’s stature did not match that of the deceased, hence could not have been able to overpower him let alone kill him.
While under cross-examination, ASP (rtd) Nkrumah told the court that Daniel Asiedu was the one who killed the MP, pointing to the fact that the accused had confessed to the crime multiple times.
DNA Exhibits
ASP (rtd) Nkrumah on August 13, 2022, tendered in evidence nine items relating to the murder of the then MP.
The items which include those picked from the crime scene as well as DNA swabs from a house opposite the late MP’s across the street returned DNA results that matched the DNA of Daniel Asiedu.
The lab results showed that a blood-stained cup which was found in one of the polytanks behind the late MP’s house returned DNA result that matched that of Daniel Asiedu 100 percent.
Another item is a blood-stained T-shirt with the inscription ‘Hemisphere’, which both Asiedu and his girlfriend confirmed as belonging to accused and what he wore on the day of the incident, also returned a DNA result that matched Daniel Asiedu’s 100 percent.
Defence
Daniel Asiedu, in his defence, denied the crime and claimed he had never been to the home of the MP until the day the police took him there for a reconstruction of the crime scene.
He even claimed his nickname is Gucci Young Star, and that Sexy Don Don was given to him by Dr. Akuffo Dampare after his arrest.
He said all the things he said, including his confession, were said under duress because the police tortured him to say those things.
His lawyer, Yaw Dankwa, in his address to the jury urged them to acquit the accused since the prosecution failed to conduct a DNA test on the knife which the accused allegedly used in killing the MP.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak