GAOLED! Nicholas Kini (left) and Felix Nyarko
The two teenagers, who allegedly murdered an eleven-year-old boy during the Easter holidays for ‘money ritual’, appeared in a Kasoa District Court yesterday charged with conspiracy to commit murder and murder.
Per the charge sheet, Felix Nyarko aka Yaw Anane and Nicholas Kwame Kini aged 16 and 17 respectively, conspired and killed Ishmael Mensah Abdallah at Coca Cola, near Lamptey Mills in Kasoa, in the Central Region.
Intriguing details are emerging about how the two teenage murderers initially wanted to kidnap the boy, collect ransom of GH¢5,000 and then go ahead to kill him to enable them to get to the so-called spiritualist to become billionaires.
Different Offences
According to the particulars of offence as contained in the first count, the two accused persons agreed to act together to commit murder.
The second count is about the two accused persons murdering Ishmael Mensah Abdallah aged ten years and eleven months using a club and cement block for the act, according to Chief Inspector Ernest Agbo, to the Prosecuting Officer who signed the charge sheet.
Intriguing Details
The murder of the eleven-year-old boy 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.
The picture of the deceased’s sobbing mother, especially as she narrated how the accused used to come and eat at her place, aggravated the pain of listeners and viewers.
According to the investigator, Detective Chief Inspector Japhet Agyeman, the accused persons both live at Kasoa and have been friends since 2008.
TV Programmes
Felix Nyarko, the first accused, is said to have been enthralled by television commercials about spiritualists who can make people instant millionaires.
He narrated the story to his friend Nicholas Kini, who recommended a spiritualist in the Volta Region who could be valuable in this regard.
Not having a mobile phone himself, the second accused, Nicholas Kini, provided the contact number of the spiritualist in the Volta Region.
The first accused, Felix Nyarko, had access to his mother’s phone and therefore went ahead to use it to contact the jujuman in the Volta Region, the facts continued.
The spiritualist allegedly demanded a human being and an amount of GH¢5,000 for the spiritual procedure to make them instant millionaires.
Last Saturday, was the day the duo settled on the deceased as the person to be used for the ritual.
According to the complainant, who is the father of the deceased, Nicholas Kini went to hide in an uncompleted building near Felix Nyarko’s house for the planned ‘operation’.
The two accused armed themselves with a club and cement blocks.
Felix Nyarko, who is a buddy of the deceased, made contact with him and convinced him to turn up at the uncompleted building where the second accused person had a video game for sale.
Initial Plans
The initial plan of the accused was to kidnap the deceased and demand a ransom of GH¢5,000 after which they would move him to the fetish priest upon receipt of the said amount.
The initial plan did not make sense and informed their decision on the murder option, which they duly carried out using the club and cement block.
How They Killed
When Ishmael Mensah Abdallah showed up, Nicholas Kini, the second accused, used the club to hit his neck from the back.
Felix Nyarko, the first accused, followed up with a killer hit using the cement block on the head of the boy, killing him instantly.
The first accused person’s sister was said to have heard something unusual and decided to walk towards the source of the unusual noise.
She was turned away by her brother who did not want her to see what was happening.
After The Killing
The accused persons after the act buried the deceased awaiting for nightfall so they could convey the body to the spiritualist in the Volta Region.
Unfortunately, the first accused person’s sister who was turned away reported to her father, Mr. Nyarko, that something unusual took place in the uncompleted building.
Mr. Nyarko, who is a step father to the first accused person, proceeded to the uncompleted building and discovered that the location had been interfered with.
He removed the surface sand and discovered the deceased covered with sand.
He confronted his step son who confessed instantly and mentioned the second accused as an accomplice.
Mr. Nyarko reported the case to the police who arrested the two teenagers.
Checks are showing that Felix Nyarko and his parents are living in an uncompleted building which belongs to the deceased kid’s uncle, and they have been accommodated free of charge for about a decade.
The deceased’s mother was said to have been cooking for them to eat most of the time.
It is turning out that Nicholas Kini was allegedly sacked from a private SHS after he was detained for two months for raping a female student, and is therefore not new to the law.
The police investigators have said they are making efforts to pick up the said spiritualist from the Volta Region for questioning.
The two teenagers, appearing before the court presided over by Her Worship Rosemond Vera Ocloo yesterday, were remanded into police custody until April 20.
Their pleas were not taken by the court.
Following the detail about the first accused being attracted by the money-making prowess of a spiritualist through a television commercial, the seeming uncensored stuff has attracted the attention of a cross section of Ghanaians.
Many have called for the outright banning of such commercials on the screens of televisions.
By A.R. Gomda