Two charged with roommate’s murder
Two men have been arraigned before an Accra Magistrate Court for allegedly murdering one Bernard Awuah Banahene.
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Emmanuel Sarfo, alias Nana Yaw, 29, a driver, and Jeffery Asirifi 27, a student, where charged on three counts of conspiracy to commit crime, murder, conspiracy to steal and stealing.
Their pleas where not taken when they were brought before the court presided over by Mr James Kojo Botah. They were remanded in police custody to reappear on September 13, 2016.
Presenting the facts of the case to the court, Inspector John Gohoho said the complainant, Helena Agyei, was the mother of the deceased and lived at Nungua Kantamanto.
Inspector Gohoho told the court that Banahene, 30, who until his mysterious death was a teacher at La Wireless JHS One School in Accra, was friends with Sarfo and Asirifi.
He said Banahene and Sarfo usually slept in the same room.
Inspector Gohoho said Sarfo visited the deceased and stayed for three weeks. While Sarfo was there, he invited Asirifi on August 7, 2016, to come to the house of the deceased.
On August 16, 2016, at about 2:00pm, Sarfo, Asirifi and Banahene prepared fufu and soup.
According to the prosecutor, it was Sarfo who prepared the soup, and in the course of eating, the deceased sensed a strange taste in the soup; as a result, he stopped eating.
Prosecutor Gohoho told the court that on August 18, 2016, about 12:00am, a driver of the deceased, Samuel Kofi Builsah, who went to deliver the deceased’s taxicab’s daily sales, met Asirifi and the deceased in the room.
He said at 5:00am Eric Appiah, the second driver of the deceased, went for the taxi and met Asirifi in the room who told Appiah that the deceased had gone out with his girlfriend in the car.
The inspector said Appiah called the deceased’s phone but there was no response. Appiah, therefore, informed Asirifi of his inability to reach the deceased and called Banahene’s mother to ask about his whereabouts.
After that, efforts made by the family of the deceased to trace him and the taxi proved futile. Helena subsequently reported the case to the police.
The police later called Helena and asked if she could identify a body that was retrieved from the vicinity at the Police Hospital mortuary.
He said Helena identified the body as that of her son. When the police went to the room of the deceased, they found bloodstains on the window. The bed and mattress were also found soaked in blood.
Sarfo and Asirifi were arrested and detained. Investigations are ongoing.