The eldest of the two teenagers who allegedly killed an 11-year-old boy in Kasoa in April 2021 for rituals, has been remanded into prison custody by a high court in Accra.
The 18-year-old, who was initially in police custody, was moved to the Nsawam Medium Security Prison after a state prosecutor told the court that the accused was causing problems at the police cell.
Pressed further by the court as to the specific problem the youngster was causing, Nana Adoma Osei, a Senior State Attorney, said she was not informed about any specifics.
But the case investigator told the court that information he gathered from the Cantonments and Osu police stations indicated that the accused has been fighting with other inmates at the cells.
He also indicated that the police at a point had to move him from the Cantonments Police Station to Ministries Police Station then to the Nima Police Station and later to the Osu Police Station.
When the court asked the accused why he had been fighting with inmates, he denied it, claiming he had picked information that some of the cell mates were planning an escape and that led to ten of them being transferred to different cells.
The presiding judge, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, remanded the accused to Nsawam Prison although his counsel had pleaded with the court to caution him and keep him in police cells.
Adjournment
The court has adjourned its judgement to July 8, 2024, due to the absence of jurors who are still on strike over non-payment of their allowances.
The judge indicated yesterday that her summing up was ready and would have proceeded with it after which the jury will retire to deliberate and deliver a verdict if not for their absence.
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 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.