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Tag: Kasoa ritual murder

  • Kasoa ritual murder: 18-yr-old boy disassociates himself from murder, says, “I don’t know anything” about it

    Kasoa ritual murder: 18-yr-old boy disassociates himself from murder, says, “I don’t know anything” about it

    Before the High Court in Accra, the 18-year-old teenager, charged alongside a 15-year-old juvenile in the Kasoa ritual murder case, has declared, “I do not know anything about the death of Ishmael Mensah Abdallah.“

    The duo faces charges of conspiracy and murder concerning 10-year-old Ishmael Mensah Abdallah, in proceedings overseen by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo.

    While the 15-year-old juvenile (1st accused) has confessed to the offence, stating, “We committed the crime together,” the 18-year-old defendant (2nd accused) has refuted the allegations.

    On Tuesday, February 6, 2024, during the ongoing trial following the conclusion of the first accused’s case, the 18-year-old (2nd Accused) presented his defence in court. Led by his counsel to provide Evidence-in-Chief, he refuted the 15-year-old juvenile’s assertion that they had planned Ishmael’s death.

    “When the first accused spent the night in my house, we did not plan the death of Ishmael,” he told the Court on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.

    “On Friday, (April 2, 2021), when the first accused came to my house, I asked him where he was coming from and he told me that he went to work with his father around Suhum, near Nsawam.

    “I asked him where his father was and he told me that his father had left earlier for the house,” he narrated to the Court.

    He added, “I also asked him if he had been home and he told me that when he went home, he saw that the door had been locked so he decided to spend the night in my house because I was home alone that day.”

    “When he spent the night in my house, we did not discuss anything in relation to going to any place and on that day, he (15-year-old) did not speak to anyone on the phone when he was in my house,” he told the jury.

    “I told him that the coming Monday (April 5, 2021), I would want to visit my hometown. He told me he’d like to come along with me to my home town because he had heard that there’s a lot of black magic there.

    “The first accused (15-year-old juvenile) also told me that he had won a lottery and that he had GHc500 on his phone that day.

    “I told him that I was feeling sleepy and I wanted to go to sleep. I turned off the light and we both slept,” he told the court.

    Unfortunate April 3

    Asked by his counsel to tell the court what happened the next day, the 2nd Accused offered explanation.

    “My lady on Saturday, April 3, 2021, when I and the first accused woke up, I told him to wash his face and start heading home since his father might be looking for him.

    “After he freshened up, he left. The first accused left my house at about 5 to 6 a.m.

    “I went to brush my teeth and that is when my grandfather asked me to warm the food so I and my siblings can eat.

    “I lit up the fire and was about to warm the food when I saw Mr Nyarko, the first accused father, ask how I was doing,” he narrated to the court.

    “ I said I was fine; he proceeded to tell me that he had some work to do and would like me to assist him in doing that. I asked him where his son, the 1st accused, was and he told me that the 1st accused wasn’t feeling well, so he could not assist him.

    “I asked his (1st accused) father if he was aware that his son slept over in my house on Friday,” but he said, “The first accused father told me that his son did not tell him that but rather he told him that he slept in an uncompleted building close to their house.”.

    The case has been adjourned to February 8, 2024 for continuation.

  • Alleged Kasoa teen killers case adjourned to July 25

    An Accra High Court has adjourned to July 25, the case of the two teenagers alleged to be involved in the murder of 10-year-old boy at Kasoa in the Central Region.

    The court was to empanel a seven-member jury for the trial when sitting resumed today.

    It said: “The main business was for us to empanel a jury. However, the jury has been involved in several cases that are being tried within the premises. To do an effective trial, I requested for a new crop of qualified men and women who are not involved in several cases to be summoned to undertake this exercise.”

    “We, therefore, need to exercise patience for the administration to take up this duty. I shall, therefore, adjourn the matter,” the court said.

    The two teenagers are being held over the death of Ishmael Mensah Abdallah who they allegedly lured into an uncompleted building and killed in April last year.

    The accused, including a minor, hit the victim’s head with a club and a cement block several times and dropped his body in a shallow hole.

    They have been charged with conspiracy and murder.

    Source: GNA

  • Kasoa ritual murder: Second accused denies presence at scene

    The Accra High Court has ordered the second accused person in the murder of a 10 year old boy at Kasoa for alleged ritual purposes to file his notice of alibi within three weeks.

    The Court said the accused, Nicholas Kani has raised a defence of an alibi claiming he was not around when the crime was committed but he is yet to provide the particulars.

    The Court presided by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo accordingly gave the order after which the prosecution will investigate the alibi. 

    The Defense Counsel, Samuel Atuah raised concern that the prosecution is yet to serve him with the disclosures for the trial and prayed the Court to make an order to that effect.

    The Court, therefore, ordered that the prosecution serve the defence with their disclosures which include the charge sheets, facts, statements of the witnesses and accused persons given at the police station and anything of evidential value which the defense may or may not rely on at the trial so that the accused persons can have sufficient time and facilities to prepare for their defence. The case has been adjourned to February 22, 2022.

    Source: gbcghanaonline.com

  • Weve never platformed mallams, money doublers Lucky TV denies claims by Kasoa murderers

    Digital television platform Lucky Television has rubbished reports linking them to the murder of a 10-year-old boy at Kasoa by his two teenage friends.

    The name of the television station has come up as the platform through which the boys sourced the number of the fetish priest who ordered them to present a dead body and an amount of GH¢5000 as for the money ritual.

    But in a statement copied to GhanaWeb, the management of the TV station said never has the station ever made publications that promote the works of fetish priests or any such persons.

    The station, in the statement, said that the confession by the teenagers as gleaning information about the activities of the ritualist on their platform is untrue and has no basis.

    “The management of Lucky Television is disgusted about reports in the media, purported to have been revealed in court by the two teenagers charged for the murder of a ten-year-old boy in Kasoa.

    “According to reports, the suspected murderers told the court that their barbaric action was triggered by a phone number announced on Lucky Television by a witch doctor.

    “Lucky Television states unequivocally that this purported revelation by the alleged murderers is a figment of their imagination, and a blatant lie aimed at tarnishing the reputation of Lucky TV.

    “We would like to state that Lucky Television will never, and has never sold its precious air-time to any mallam, witch doctor, pastor or a fetish priest since its inception, and we challenge any group of people and or individuals who have contrary evidence to release same to the public to refute our claim,” parts of the statement read.

    The two suspected murders on Monday, August 17 gave an account of how they murdered their friend who at the time of being dumped in a hole was still breathing.

    Felix Nyarko, one of the suspects told the court: “when we got there, Nicholas told Ishmael (victim) that the game was in the sack over there so Nicholas bent down to pick the game from the sack. Nicholas then used a club to hit the back of his head and he fell to the floor, unable to speak. We dragged him closer to us and Nicholas hit him again with the club,” he said.

    The case has meanwhile been adjourned to Monday, September 6, 2021.

    Source: www.ghanaweb.com

  • GHS accountant in forgery stealing of over GH¢500,000 to be arraigned before court

    A former Accountant at the Buipe Polyclinic in the Central Gonja District of the Savannah Region, Mr. Osman Jamal-Deen who is reported to have forged signatures and stolen over GH¢500,000 cedis from the account of the health facility is due to be arraigned before court.

    The Ghana Health Service staff with staff number 749504 reportedly forged the signature of the Medical Superintendent of the facility and issued NIB cheques to the tune of GH¢580,288.17.

    It has also been established that the suspect currently on police bail, failed to deposit cash at the Tamale main Branch of the National Investment Bank (NIB) where the account of the facility is.

    MyNewsGh.com has confirmed that he is set to appear before a Tamale High Court on May 24, 2021, and provisionally charged with forgery and stealing after series o investigations uncovered that he was culpable in the fraudulent deals that started a little over two years.

    The Investigative Desk of MyNewsGh.com that first broke the story has in its possession over 50 NIB forged cheques out of over 100 which are also incorporated in a report by a committee set up by the Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service.

    A face value of the numerous cheques reveals a staggering amount of GH¢336,599.17 stolen from the Buipe Internally Generated Drug Account with the Tamale Main Branch of NIB.

    It would be recalled that MyNewsGh.com a fortnight ago reported how the Medical Superintendent of the facility detected the crime, reported it to the Regional Director and then got the suspect arrested.

    The Ghana Health Service then set up a fact-finding committee that audited the embattled accountant and corroborated findings; followed by a disciplinary committee that was set to take him through disciplinary proceedings.

    The Disciplinary Committee also did its work and produced a report in August 2020 a copy of which is possession of MyNewsGh.com. However, both the fact-finding committee report and the disciplinary committee reports were only on shelves gathering dust per our checks until recently.

    Investigations reveal that the suspect who has since been transferred to the Regional Health Directorate has paid GHC 35,000.00 out of the GH¢580,288.17 he stole through forged cheques and the rest by undeposited funds.

    In some instances, there were even cheques that were honoured with only one signature(his), meanwhile, the Medical Superintendent is the principal account holder.

    Source: mynewsgh.com

  • Kasoa teenage killers refused bail

    The Ofaakor District Court has refused bail application by lawyer for the two accused persons who are alleged to have murdered a 10-year-old boy at Kasoa Ofaakor.

    The Magistrate Samuel Adjei while refusing the application said, the court does not have jurisdiction to grant bail at this stage except the trial court, which is the High Court.

    This was after listening to the submissions by the lawyer and the prosecution.

    Defence lawyer Samuel Atuah told the court that since the law states in Article 19 (2) an accused person is innocent until proven guilty so the court should consider that provision to grant his clients bail.

    Lawyer Atuah also told the court that the accused persons have been in custody for some time and need to interact with their families.

    But, the Prosecutor Chief Inspector Ernest Agbo opposed the application for bail arguing that it is in the interest of the accused persons to be in custody until further investigation.

    The Magistrate in granting the request of the prosecution ordered them to speed up with the investigation of the correct ages of the accused persons and also to hurry with the preparation of the docket to the Attorney General for advice.

    Lawyer Samuel Atuah in a media interaction after court proceedings told the media that he will go to the High Court for bail.

    He said it is a deliberate attempt by the prosecution to delay investigations.

    Spoke Person for the family of the deceased, Samed Akakilu said he trusts the Judicial system and the family is going for an expeditious trial for Justice to be served at the end of the day.

    The alleged murderers have been remanded into police custody by the Ofankor District.

    The case has been adjourned May 4, 2021.

    Source: Kasapa FM

  • Kasoa ritual murder: Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang visits family of 10-year-old boy, donates GH¢10k

    Running mate of former President John Dramani Mahama, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has on behalf of the former president presented Ghc10,000 to the family of the late 10-year-old-boy who was allegedly murdered for ritual purposes.

    She went to commiserate with the bereaved family today, Tuesday, April 13, 2021.

    She described the incident as desirable and one that should allow the nation to do a soul-searching exercise for the direction of the country.

    She prayed and consoled the family and asked God to strengthen them in these trying times.

    She took to Facebook saying: “I spent my morning in Amanfrom near Kasoa commiserating with the mother and family of the 10-year-old who was gruesomely murdered allegedly by two teenagers.

    This despicable episode demands national soul searching and an honest enquiry into the direction of our country.

    Even as a mother and grandmother, I do not pretend to fully comprehend what my fellow mother is going through at this moment save to offer prayers and words of sincere sympathy.

    On behalf of Former President John Dramani Mahama and the NDC, we made a token donation of GHS10,000.00 to the family.

    May Allah grant solace and strength to the bereaved family particularly in this holy month of Ramadan.”

    Source: rainbowradioonline.com

  • Kasoa ritual murder: Two more suspects arrested

    Two more suspects have been arrested by the Ghana Police Service in connection with the gruesome murder of a 10-year-old boy at Coca-Cola near the Great Lamptey Mills School in Kasoa.

    The two suspects identified as Charity and Desmond Nii Adjei are both being investigated by the Criminal Investigative Department (CID) for the offence of abetment to commit a crime, to wit murder.

    The Head of Public Relations at the CID unit stated that the two suspects were arrested by the police after investigators set off a manhunt for the perpetrators involved in the crime.

    DSP Juliana Obeng, who spoke to Joy News in an interview monitored by GhanaWeb, added, the suspects will be assisting the police with its investigations into the murder of Ishmael Mensah Abdallah.

    She further cautioned the media to be circumspect in their reportage.

    “Investigations are still ongoing, we stressed the need for us to be circumspect in our reportage because the case is quite sentimental; we do not want to toy with the emotions at this moment,” DSP Obeng said.

    On Wednesday, the spiritualist alleged to be at the centre of the killing was also arrested by the Central Region Police.

    The two teens were also remanded into police custody bringing to 5, the number of suspects nabbed in the case so far.

    Source: www.ghanaweb.com

  • Kasoa ritual murder: Stop giving exposure to fraudsters Kufuor tells media houses

    Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has charged the media not to give their platforms to fraudulent people and tricksters who make vain promises.

    His comments follow the recent murder of a 10-year-old boy by two of his friends at Coca-Cola near the Great Lamptey Mills School, a suburb of Kasoa in the Central Region, all in the name of making quick money.

    He indicated that the two suspects, alleged minors, who are aged 16 and 17, were victims of people who have been paying attention to fraudulent TV personalities.

    “How could young people do this? What do they know? Unfortunately, [the] media […] are giving so much exposure to tricksters and fraudulent people, promising everything. When you look at them you should know that these are people who are themselves just bad and ignorant. That is not the way for our society to go,” Kufuor told Joy Prime in an interview monitored by GhanaWeb on Tuesday.

    Kufuor further urged media houses to cut out content and people that could “defraud the society”.

    He admonished: “We need to do that, [the] media and, of course, the authorities too should come up and tackle all these people who are now virtually hijacking the airwaves with vain promises and trickery. They should be eradicated….”

    According to the Police, one of the suspects confessed that a spiritualist, whom they had discovered on television agreed to help them become instant billionaires if they would provide a human being and a sum of GH¢5,000.

    The two, per the police charge sheet, admitted that they killed the 10-year-old Ishmael by hitting his neck with a club.

    This was after luring him into an uncompleted building under the guise of selling him a video game at Lamptey Mills, a suburb of Kasoa in the Central Region.

    This development has incensed a large segment of the Ghanaian society who are calling for an end to the appearance of spiritualists and Mallams on television who promise unreasonable get-rich-quick avenues for the unsuspecting youth.

    Source: www.ghanaweb.com