A High Court in Accra has set June 24, 2024, for summing-up and delivery of a verdict in the case of two teenage boys accused of killing an 11-year-old boy, Ishmael Abdallah, at Kasoa in April 2021.
The court was supposed to sum up the evidence presented by both the prosecution and the accused persons after which the jury will retire to deliberate and return a verdict.
The court could, however, not proceed with the summing-up “due to circumstances beyond my control,” Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, the trial judge indicated when the case was called.
She confirmed receiving the addresses of the prosecution and the defence, but indicated her inability to proceed with the summing-up due to certain difficulties.
She subsequently adjourned the case to June 24, 2024 for the lawyers to address the jury after which she will do the summing-up to guide the jury.
The jury will then retire to deliberate and return a verdict.
Murder
The two teenagers have been 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 the court, 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.”
Investigator
The investigator, Chief Inspector Isaac Asiedu Odei, as part of his testimony, tendered in evidence the handle of a pickaxe, which one of the accused used to hit the victim on the head.
He also tendered in evidence two cement blocks, which one of them used to hit the victim on the forehead after he had been hit with the pickaxe handle.
Chief Inspector Odei again tendered in evidence a shovel and a spade which the accused persons used in digging a shallow grave in which they buried the victim, who was still breathing.
The investigator, in his evidence, told the court that one of the accused had confessed that he hit the deceased with a full block which later broke into pieces after landing on the forehead of the deceased.
By Gibril Abdul Razak