Kasoa murder: Ages of teen suspects force second adjournment
The failure to establish the true ages of the teenagers involved in the Kasoa ritual murder has forced the court to adjourn the case for the second time.
The two teenagers, Felix Nyarko and Nicholas Kini, slapped with murder charges are to reappear on May 4, 2021.
On Tuesday, April 20, the prosecution team led by Chief Inspector Ernest Agbo pleaded with the Ofaakor District Court to give them ample time to determine the actual ages of the suspects.
They urged the court to remand the teenagers into police custody as it continues investigation to make its case air-tight.
The court, presided over by Samuel Kwesi Adjei, granted the request and remanded the boys.
When news of the arrest first broke on April 4, this year, the police report said the teenage boys were 16 and 17 respectively.
The police prosecution, however, updated the fact charge when the boys appeared in court for the first time and said the teenagers were 16 and 18.
Samed Akalilu, who is the spokesperson for the family of the murdered boy expressed disappointment that the issue of their ages has still not been determined.
He charged the police to conclude its investigations to enable the court to set out the modalities for the trial.
“We are a bit disappointed that the issue of the age of one of the killers has not been unravelled. For the issues of age, we should have gone past that stage by now,” he spoke to the media after proceedings on Tuesday.
Bail application
The court refused a bail application by counsel for the two accused persons who are alleged to have murdered a 10-year-old boy at Kasoa.
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.
Arguments from both sides prior to court’s ruling on the bail application
Counsel for the accused persons, Samuel Atuah, told the court that since the law states in Article 19 (2) that an accused person is innocent until proven guilty, the court should consider that provision to grant his client’s bail.
He also mentioned that the accused persons have been in custody for some time and emphasized the need to communicate with their families.
But the prosecutor opposed the application.
He said it is in the interest of the accused persons to be in custody until further investigation.
The next step would be to go to the High Court. Mr Atuah believes it is a deliberate attempt by the prosecution to derail the case.
How was Ishmael killed?
Felix Nyarko and Nicholas Kini lured their victim into an uncompleted building and killed him.
Felix is a mason labourer and the first accused, while Nicholas is a student and second accused.
A fetish priestess had demanded body parts from the two in addition to GHC 5000 to perform money rituals to make them wealthy.
The deceased was playing a video game when his playmates, who are known residents in the area, called him into an uncompleted building.
Per the reports, the accused persons hit Ishmael with an object which resulted in instant death.
According to sources, the incident happened at the Kasoa suburb of Lamptey Mills on Saturday, April 3, 2021, between 5 pm and 6 pm.
Ishmael lived with the mother and sister at Kasoa, whilst the father lived elsewhere.
According to Ishmael’s mother, the father had travelled and had not been able to visit them for some time.
As a practice, the mother of the deceased said the boy often attends Islamic lessons on Saturdays but failed to do so on that fateful day because he was waiting for his father, who had promised to visit.
The mother said Ishmael’s sister rushed in to inform her that he had been killed.
The residents apprehended the teenagers and reported the case to the Kasoa police.
The remains of the 10-year-old boy, brutally murdered by two teenagers at Kosoa, has since been laid to rest.
YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN: