The suspects
An Accra High Court has ordered the police to investigate a defence of alibi raised by Nicholas Kini, one of the two teenagers who allegedly killed an 11-year-old boy at Kasoa in the Central Region during last year’s Easter Holidays.
The court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo yesterday noted that the bill of indictment contained the accused person’s defence of alibi and since the particulars of the alibi was not clarified, he and his lawyer were ordered to file his notice of alibi after which the prosecution is to investigate this alibi.
An alibi is a claim or piece of evidence that one was elsewhere when an act, typically a criminal one, is alleged to have taken place.
The prosecution was further ordered to serve the defence with their disclosures which includes the charge sheet, the facts, the statements of witnesses and accused persons’ statements given at the police station.
The court also ordered the prosecution to furnish the defence with witness statements of prosecution witnesses and anything of any evidential value which they may or may not rely on at the trial.
This, the court said, is to afford the accused persons an opportunity and sufficient time and facilities to prepare for their defence.
The disclosures are to be done on or before the February 22, 2022, which is the next court date.
Nicholas Kini was also ordered to file the notice of alibi within 21 days from yesterday.
Trial
The two were committed by a Kaneshie Magistrate Court in August of last year, after it found that there was enough evidence for them to stand trial for the alleged murder of Ishmael Mensah Abdallah.
The gruesome murder of 11-year-old Ishmael Mensah Abdallah 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 television.
Nyarko is said to have been enthralled by television commercials about spiritualists who could make people instant billionaires.
He narrated the story to his friend Kini, who recommended a spiritualist who could be valuable in that regard.
Not having a mobile phone himself, Kini provided the contact number of the spiritualist and Nyarko went ahead to use his mother’s phone to contact the spiritualist.
Felix Nyarko, during his committal comment, narrated how they lured the 11-year-old boy into an uncompleted building where they subsequently ‘murdered’ him.
He had told the Magistrate Court during the committal that upon reaching the uncompleted building, Kini was already waiting for them and he assisted the victim to climb into the room.
The two hit the deceased with a cement block and although the victim was not dead, the two dug a shallow hole and dropped him inside.
He said realising that the victim was still breathing, they put more sand on him while he was still alive.
He said he picked another block but heard his mother calling him so he dropped it and went out of the uncompleted building leaving Nicholas behind.
The accused told the court events that led to the discovery of the body and how angry residents of the area subjected them to severe beatings following the incident.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak