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Daniel Asiedu committed to stand trial for killing Abuakwa North MP

Daniel Asiedu committed to stand trial for killing Abuakwa North MP

Daniel Asiedu, the man accused of killing a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North, J.B. Danquah-Adu, has been committed to stand trial at the High Court by the Accra Central District Court.

He will be joined at the High Court by Vincent Bosso, the second accused person in the case.

At yesterday’s committal hearing, the district court, presided over by Mr Stephen Owusu, held that there was the need for Asiedu and Bosso to stand trial to answer the charges levelled against them.

On Asiedu, the court held that there were so many inconsistencies in the statements that he gave to the police and what he had narrated to the court.

“It is the considered view of the court that there is a case for the two accused persons to answer. They are, therefore, committed to stand trial at the High Court,’’ Mr Owusu said.

Asiedu has been indicted on three counts of murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery, while Bosso is facing a charge of conspiracy to commit robbery.

Not guilty

Earlier, Asiedu had vehemently denied killing the former legislator.

That was after he had been called upon by the magistrate to respond to the charges and the facts presented by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mrs Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa.

Asiedu, popularly known as Sexy Don Don, claimed that he had been lured to the Accra Regional Police Headquarters by his girlfriend’s uncle whom he called Kwame.

Upon reaching there, he claimed the police handcuffed him and accused him of killing  J.B. Danquah-Adu.

“It was at the police headquarters that the commander told me that I have been arrested in connection with the killing of J.B. Danquah-Adu, an MP. The police also brought out three iPhones and said those were the items that I stole from the MP’s house,’’ he said.

In a response that lasted for more than two hours, Asiedu explained that he was a businessman who bought stolen phones at low prices and sold them at higher prices.

He claimed that his girlfriend’s uncle (Kwame) was also in that kind of business and had consistently accused him of stealing his customers.

Kwame, he said, then plotted with two other persons, whom he called Allotey and Mawuko, and convinced him to report an attempted assault on his girlfriend to the regional police headquarters, where he was arrested for allegedly killing the MP.

Inconsistencies

Asiedu’s comments were in stark contrast to the confession he had made to the court on his first appearance in February 2016.

At that time, he had told the court that he had gone to the MP’s house to steal and did not intend to kill him.

Mr Owusu pointed out to Asiedu the inconsistencies in what he (Asiedu) had said at the court and the various statements that he (Asiedu) gave to the police.

The first two statements given by Asiedu to the police, the magistrate explained, showed that he (Asiedu), together with Bosso, was hired by a National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP to kill J.B. Danquah-Adu.

In those two statements, Mr Owusu pointed out, Asiedu had claimed that he was given GH₵2,000 to kill the MP.

Asiedu also claimed in the statements that the security man at J.B. Danquah-Adu’s house played an instrumental role in assisting him to kill the MP.

The court also pointed out to Asiedu that five other statements that he gave showed that he and Bosso planned to go on a robbery spree which resulted in the death of the former MP.

“So you have given an alibi that you were not present at the time of the MP’s death, but this is at variance with the various statements that you gave to the police. What do you have to say to that?’’ the magistrate asked him.

Asiedu responded that the true statements that he gave to the police were the ones that he recounted in the court, adding, “I did not kill the MP as the police are saying.’’

Evidence

As a prelude to the trial, the prosecution tendered some of the pieces of evidence it intended to rely on at the trial.

These are the post-mortem report on the death of the former legislator, the forensic DNA on Asiedu, a bloodstained T-shirt that it claimed belonged to Asiedu and the knife that was allegedly used to stab the MP.

The rest are the three phones that were stolen from the MP’s room, a pair of slippers that Asiedu allegedly left behind after committing the crime, among other pieces of evidence. 

Facts

The facts, as presented by the prosecution, were that on February 8, 2016, Asiedu and Bosso decided to embark on a robbery operation at Shiashie, a suburb of East Legon, where the MP resided.

Asiedu selected the MP’s house but Bosso disagreed and decided to abandon the robbery operation

About 11:40 p.m., the MP arrived home and went to bed in a room located on the first floor of his house.

About 1 a.m. that same night, Asiedu, armed with a catapult, a cutter and a sharp knife, went to the legislator’s house. He entered the house by scaling the wall on the blind side of a security man who was fast asleep.

On entering the house, Asiedu climbed onto a porch on the top floor with a ladder and entered the MP’s bedroom through a window.

While Asiedu was searching the room, the MP woke up and held him. There ensued a struggle, during which Asiedu stabbed the MP in the right chest above the breast.

In the ensuing struggle, Asiedu also sustained various injuries in his palm and chest.

The legislator fell by his bed, bleeding profusely, after which Asiedu stabbed him several times on the right chest and neck.

On realising that the MP was dying, Asiedu left the room and took with him three iPhones.

Meanwhile, the struggle between the MP and Asiedu drew the attention of the security man in the house, who alerted others in the neighbourhood.

Asiedu, however, managed to descend the top of the house. He jumped over the electric fencing on the walls of the house into an adjoining house and escaped.

Asiedu then took the phones to a phone repairer to decode them, but the repairer saw bloodstains and the pictures of the MP on the phones and alerted the police.

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