The suspects
An Accra High Court yesterday heard that the family of one of the two teenagers alleged to have killed an 11-year-old boy at Kasoa have relocated from their old place, and police investigators are yet to locate them.
One of the family members was billed to enter the witness box yesterday for the case to commence, but the prosecution indicated that they were yet to locate the witness and the family’s new place of abode.
Nana Adoma Osei, a Senior State Attorney told court that “our first three witnesses are a family and they have relocated from Kasoa, and so our investigators are taking steps to trace the family.”
She, therefore, indicated that they will be calling another witness out of turn, thereby affecting the order in which they intended calling their witnesses.
“Due to the short notice and also in order for us not to delay the court’s time, we will pray that the case is adjourned to Thursday, March 9, 2023, by which time our witness would be ready to testify in court,” Ms. Osei prayed the court.
The court, presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, adjourned the case to March 9, 2023, for the prosecution to call Frank Mensah as their first witness.
The two teenagers were committed by a Kaneshie Magistrate Court in August 2021 after it found that there was enough evidence for them to stand trial for the alleged murder of Ishmael Mensah Abdallah.
The court, during the committal proceedings, was shocked when one of the teenagers ‘confessed’ that they killed a pregnant woman prior to the gruesome killing of 11-year-old Ishmael Mensah Abdallah for money rituals.
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.
In all, the prosecution would be calling seven witnesses to prove its case in the trial of the two (name withheld) who have been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit murder and a substantive charge of murder.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak