Kasoa murder trial: Prosecution bets on 6 witnesses
State Prosecution will rely on six witnesses to adduce evidence to prove its case in the trial in which two teenagers have been accused of the murder of a 10-year-old boy at Kasoa for money rituals.
The Prosecutor, a Senior State Attorney, Nana Adoma Osei, who disclosed this while addressing the newly constituted jury for the trial and the court, said the prosecution, through the witnesses, would demonstrate to the court that the accused persons intentionally caused harm to the deceased by hitting him with the club of a pickaxe and cement block.
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“We will lead evidence to prove to this court that it was the harm caused by the accused persons that led to the death of the deceased.
“Indeed, all the evidence gathered prove that it was the accused persons, and not any other persons, who killed the deceased,” the prosecutor told the court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo.
Not guilty
The 15-year-old suspect has pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy but pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.
The 18-year-old suspect, on the other, hand pleaded not guilty to both charges.
The court has, however, entered a plea of not guilty for the 15-year-old suspect because the offence was conspiracy to murder and as a result, had to be tried by the jury.
Address
Addressing the court after the prosecution had read the facts and addressed the jury, counsel for the juvenile suspect, Samuel Atuah, reminded the jury that the facts presented by the prosecution did not mean the accused intentionally caused the murder of the deceased in a justifiable manner.
His client, he said, had no intention of causing any harm.
Counsel for the 18-year-old suspect, on the other hand, urged the jury to focus on the realities and the totality of the circumstances his client found himself in, which led to the unfortunate incident alleged to have been committed by his client.
Prosecution’s facts
According to the prosecution, on March 29, 2021, the accused persons consulted a spiritualist for money rituals locally known as "sakawa".
The said spiritualist who claimed to be in the Volta Region was said to have requested GH¢5,000 and a human being to perform the rituals.
On April 3, 2021, the accused persons, according to the prosecution, decided to use the deceased in furtherance of their sakawa mission.
At about 9 a.m. on the same day, the prosecutor said, the juvenile accused lured the deceased into an uncompleted building where the second accused had laid ambush with the club of a pickaxe.
“As soon as the deceased arrived, they told him to remove a video game from a sack they had deposited at a corner in the room.
“When the deceased bent down in an attempt to remove the said video game from the sack, the second accused struck him at the back of his neck with the club, causing him to fall,” Nana Osei said.
The deceased, she said, turned to look at the juvenile accused and pleaded with him not to kill him but forgive him if he had offended him, but his plea was ignored by the juvenile accused who struck the head of the deceased with a cement block which was in the building. As a result, the deceased became unconscious but was still breathing.
The accused persons, the prosecution said, further used a spade and a shovel to dig a shallow grave in the room and buried the deceased with the intention of conveying him to the spiritualist.
She said luck, however, eluded them when the juvenile accused's younger sister was going to urinate by the uncompleted building and saw him but he ordered her to leave.
She suspected that something was amiss about her brother's presence in the uncompleted building and so informed her mother, who also informed her husband.
“He went to the scene and found the body of the deceased buried. He confronted the juvenile suspect who confessed to killing the deceased and mentioned the second accused as his accomplice.
“They were both arrested and handed over to the Kasoa police for investigations,” the prosecution added.