A seven-member jury has unanimously found the two teenagers charged for the 2021 murder of a 10-year-old boy at Kasoa for money ritual guilty.
The two teenagers, who are 18 and 15 years respectively, have been found guilty on two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, and the substantive charge of murder.
Consequently, the High Court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, has sentenced the 18-year-old, Nicholas Kini, to life in prison.
Sentencing of the 15-year-old has, however been deferred to the juvenile court in line with section 18(1), Juvenile Justice Act 2003 Act (ACT 653).
It states that where a juvenile appears before a court of summary jurisdiction other than a juvenile court on a charge made jointly against the juvenile and a person who has attained the age of eighteen years and the juvenile offender but shall remit the case to the juvenile court for sentence.
In the meantime, the 15-year-old, will be kept in police custody until the juvenile court sentences him.
The prosecution, led by Nana Adoma Osei had urged the jury to return a guilt verdict against the accused persons while the defence lawyers, Samuel Atuah and Lawrence Boampong, holding the brief of Martin Kpebu prayed the jury to return a not guilty verdict in favour of their clients.
In his immediate remarks after the sentence was handed over to him by the court, Kini pleaded with court and family of the deceased, to the ghost of the deceased adding, “Because he is the only person that can say the truth.”
Parental role
Meanwhile, before sentencing the convict, Justice Marfo, who relied on a quote from former First Lady of the United States said “Nothing but parental neglect has brought us this far, and if we don’t take care the very foundation of this nation would be destroyed”.
Ishmael, a pupil of Marantha Preparatory school was killed by his confidants in April 2021 after they lured him into an uncompleted building in their vicinity.
The trial started officially in March 2023 at the High Court.
Case
The 15-year-old juvenile from the beginning of the trial ‘confessed’ to the crime both at the District Court during the committal and at the High Court where they stood trial.
He, therefore, pleaded not guilty to murder but pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. However, the court entered a plea of ‘not guilty’ for him.
The 18-year-old boy, on the other hand, 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.
As a result, he was asked to file a notice of alibi to substantiate his claim that he was not at the crime scene at the time of the incident.
However, his grandfather, who is now deceased, said he could not vouch for him.
In his defence, the 18-year-old accused told the jury that he had no knowledge of the death of Ishmael Mensah Abdallah.
He admitted knowing the deceased but said, “I do not know anything about the death of Ishmael Mensah Abdallah”.
Aside accusing the 15-year-old juvenile of setting him up, the 18-year-old boy explained that the whole incident was a set up adding that he was not close to Abdallah to have hatched a plan to murder him.
He added that he only admitted to the crime originally because the police lured him.
Trial
During trial, the prosecution called seven witnesses who testified against the two accused persons detailing their accounts on the hideous crime which soaked public discussions about parenting.
Calling on the jury to return a guilty verdict against the accused persons, Ms. Osei attacked the credibility of the 18-year-old boy.
Specifically, she drew the jury’s attention to instances where the convict had given inconsistent testimony including telling lies about his age during investigations which was later rebutted by investigators from his old school records.
In addition to that, the state attorney further made reference to the testimony of the sixth prosecution witness, Chief Inspector Asiedu Opare who conducted the investigations.
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