Lucas Agboyie
The Accra Central District Court has ordered state prosecutors to produce the 22-year-old self-confessed killer who is facing trial for strangulating a seven-year-old girl to death and having sex with the corpse for three hours.
The court, presided over by Worlanyo Kotoku, said the prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Simon Apiorsornu, would be compelled to pay the transport fare of the complainant if they do not produce the accused Lucas Agboyie at the next sitting.
This was after the prosecutor had informed the court that the accused aka Gabriel or Kojo, a mason apprentice, could not be transported to the court because the police vehicle broke down.
C/Insp. Apiorsornu explained that the car could not go to Nsawam Prisons where the accused was on remand, insisting the prosecution did not have an alternative means.
He said the prosecution was also awaiting the bail on indictment from the Attorney General’s Department.
C/Insp. Apiorsornu however prayed the court for adjournment but his explanation did not go down well with the mother of the victim-Ruth Amankwah.
The complainant said the case has been adjourned several times.
She asked: “What is going on? I want justice to be done.”
Hearing continues on February 16.
Confession
The accused, nicknamed Sympathy or Sky Lover last year, told the court that he smoked wee and informed the victim that he wanted to have sex with her.
He said the pleas from Ruth to spare her life could not dissuade him from strangulating her to death.
He said he had sex with the corpse in his metal container at Kubekro No. 1, near Atadeka at Ashaiman, a suburb of Accra on April 19, 2015.
He stressed that he was rueful and claimed that he did not know what led him to kill the girl.
Stunned by the confession of ‘Sympathy,’ the magistrate repeatedly asked the accused whether he knew Ruth was dead before having sex with her, which he answered in the affirmative.
Charged with murder contrary to sections 46 of Act 29/60, the plea of Sympathy has not been taken.
Facts
Ruth was a class one pupil of the Meshach Academy School at Zenu also in Ashaiman in Accra who lived with her mother at Kubekro where the accused also lived about 200 metres away from them.
At 8 am on Sunday April 19, 2015, the mother of the deceased prepared porridge and sent her with GH¢20 to buy bread from a nearby shop for their breakfast.
The parents became alarmed and searched for her in the area after she failed to return home for a period of time. An informant told the complainant that she saw ‘Sympathy’ pulling the deceased into his metal container.
Body found
As a result, a search team entered the said container of the accused but he was not there.
The team rather found Ruth’s naked body lying dead in a supine position on an old student’s mattress with blood oozing from her mouth and nostrils, which led to the arrest of Sympathy.
When questioned, the accused confessed that he killed Ruth and had sex with her afterwards.
The accused initially insisted he killed Ruth on his own volition but later mentioned one Baba Ali as the one who contracted him to murder the victim for money, house and a car.
Sympathy has however not been able to lead the police to the said Baba.
He took the police to a wrong house and pointed at a car parked in front of it as the one Baba promised him.
Crime Scene
On April 20, 2015, the Ashaiman police visited the scene.
Upon inspection, the police team saw bruises on the neck the girl with blood oozing from the mouth and nostrils, an indication that Ruth was strangulated to death.
A pair of rubber sandals, blood stained dress and a towel belonging to the accused were also found at the scene.
jeffdegraft44@yahoo.com
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson