The suspects
The police investigator in the case of two teenagers, who killed an 11-year-old boy in Kasoa last year for rituals, yesterday told the trial court that the accused buried their victim while he was still breathing.
Chief Inspector Isaac Asiedu Odei, led in his evidence-in-chief by Nana Adoma Osei, a Senior State Attorney, told the court that one of the accused persons admitted during investigations that the victim was still alive and breathing when they buried him in a shallow grave they had dug.
They have all pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder, while one of them who is believed to be the prime suspect and had confessed to the crime during the committal proceedings, pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit murder, but the court entered a plea of not guilty for him.
The investigator as part of his testimony tendered in evidence the handle of 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.
The accused, during his confession, indicated that just as he was about to strike the deceased with the block, the victim who was partly unconscious suddenly raised his head and looked his attacker right in the face and pleaded with him not to kill him.
The young boy, according to the confession, begged his killer for forgiveness if he had offended him in any way, but this fell on deaf ears, as the attacker who was very good friends with the victim went ahead to land the block on his head.
The investigator also told the court that the accused took the police to the crime scene and demonstrated how they lured the victim and how they eventually killed him.
Meanwhile, Chief Inspector Odei has told the court that the alleged fetish priest who demanded GH¢50,000 and a live human from the accused persons denied ever talking to them.
According to him, the said fetish priest was arrested and a forensic test conducted on her phone showed no communication between her and the accused persons.
The fetish priest also told the police that she had been practicing her trade for three years but never demanded human sacrifice from any of her patrons.
The court, presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, has granted the prosecution leave to file certain documents and photographs relevant to their case, which were not available at the time the other documents were disclosed to the court and defence counsels.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak