Kasoa Ritual Killing: Juvenile sentenced to 12 months in correctional centre

The Juvenile Court in Accra has sentenced a 15-year-old boy found guilty of conspiring with another teenager to murder a 10-year-old boy in Kasoa for money rituals, to 12 months in prison.

He will serve his sentence at the Senior Correctional Centre.

Before receiving the sentence, the emotional convict pleaded with the court for forgiveness, saying:
“It was not my intention to kill my dear friend and to also end his life this way. I pray the court would forgive all my sins and give me a second chance.”

He further appealed to the deceased’s father for forgiveness.

“I have played with Ishmael (deceased) for a very long time. I never planned to kill him. It was the devil,” he added.

Presiding Judge Bernice Mensimah Ackon explained that the juvenile convict, who was arrested in April 2021, will turn 19 this year.

She noted that the boy had been on remand for three years and two months. According to the judge, under the Juvenile Justice Act 2003 (Act 653), the juvenile had effectively served his three-year sentence. However, due to the gravity of the offence and the juvenile’s stated intention to learn a technical vocation—having dropped out of school at Basic 6—the court sentenced him to a Senior Correctional Centre for an additional 12 months to enable him to acquire vocational skills.

Background
In October last year, a seven-member jury unanimously found the two teenagers guilty on two counts: conspiracy to commit murder and the substantive charge of murder.

The High Court, presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, sentenced the 18-year-old, Nicholas Kini, to life imprisonment.

The sentencing of the 15-year-old was deferred to the Juvenile Court in accordance with Section 18(1) of the Juvenile Justice Act 2003 (Act 653). This section mandates that where a juvenile is charged alongside an adult in a court of summary jurisdiction, the juvenile’s case must be remitted to the Juvenile Court for sentencing.

The 15-year-old had since been kept in police custody awaiting sentencing by the Juvenile Court.

Prosecution’s facts
According to the prosecution, on 29 March 2021, the accused consulted a spiritualist for money rituals, locally known as “sakawa”.

The spiritualist, purportedly based in the Volta Region, was said to have requested GH¢5,000 and a human being to perform the rituals. On 3 April 2021, the accused decided to use the deceased in pursuit of their “sakawa” ambitions.

At about 9 a.m. that day, the juvenile accused lured the deceased into an uncompleted building where the second accused lay in 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 placed in a corner of the room,” Prosecutor Nana Osei recounted.

“When the deceased bent down to retrieve the video game, the second accused struck him at the back of his neck with the club, causing him to fall,” she added.

The deceased reportedly turned to the juvenile accused and pleaded for his life, saying he should forgive him if he had wronged him. However, the plea was ignored, and the juvenile accused struck the deceased on the head with a cement block found in the building.

The deceased, though unconscious, was still breathing. The prosecution revealed that the accused dug a shallow grave in the room with a spade and shovel, intending to transport the body to the spiritualist.