The suspects
Lawyers in the case of two boys accused of killing an 11-year-old boy, Ishmael Abdallah, at Kasoa in April 2021, have been given up to March 14, 2024, to file their written addresses.
The second accused person closed his defence yesterday after undergoing cross-examination by a senior state attorney from the Office of the Attorney General.
The two are before a High Court in Accra charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder and the substantive charge of murder.
The court during the prosecution’s case 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.
He subsequently pleaded not guilty to murder but pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. The court entered a plea of ‘not guilty’ for him.
The second accused 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, when his lawyer asked him 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.”
He maintained same yesterday under cross-examination by the prosecutor and indicated he played no part in the boy’s death, neither did he have any discussions of performing money ritual with the other accused person.
When reminded about his police caution statement in which he said he hit the deceased once, he indicated that he only said so because a police officer told him to say it to avoid further beatings from the police.
“I said so and that was because before we were being transferred from Kasoa to the headquarters, the Kasoa CID said to me on the staircase that the way we were beaten mercilessly, he doesn’t want us to be beaten, so when we get there whatever they say to us we should admit so that we will not be beaten again,” the second accused said.
He also denied ever stealing GH¢1,200 from the first accused’s father and spending same in a nightclub, stating that it was the first time he was hearing about it.
The prosecutor also averred that this was not the first time the second accused had a brush with the law, as he was once arrested in possession of narcotics but the case was dropped because he was a juvenile at the time.
He denied this too and said he was arrested because he fought with a “Rasta guy called Shasha and the CID boss was madam Shiela and this was not related to any narcotics.”
Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, the presiding judge, at the close of the second accused person’s defence ordered the prosecution and defence team to file their written addresses by March 14, 2024, which is the next sitting date.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak