Witness tells court how he discovered late JB Danquah’s phone

On July 14, 2021, 4:37 AM

A witness has revealed how he found the mobile phone of the late lawmaker Joseph Boakye Danquah who was murdered in February 2016.

Kenneth Kuranchie, who sells cell phone accessories, said one of the accused persons, Daniel Asiedu, also known as Sexy Don Don, brought him the late JB’s phone and another phone to charge for him.

The witness said Daniel Asiedu was the boyfriend of a family friend named Janet, who happen to stay in the same area with him and his younger brother.

Asiedu told Kuranchie that he had a power outage at his place, so he could not charge his phones at that time.

But a careful study of one of the phones showed it did not belong to Asiedu as he had claimed.

Pictures and videos of the late JB was seen on the phone.

He also mentioned that he got more suspicious when his kid brother Amofa asked him if he had heard the news of “a certain NPP MP who had been killed.”

“When my brother left I decided to go and check the phone I have put on charge. Upon removing the phone from charge, I decided to go through the pictures. After flipping through the first six photos, nothing showed the phone belonged to the first accused.

“There was a short video where I saw a gentleman holding the phone recording himself. He was saying this is Bechem palace, and there were some people behind the gentleman who was recording himself, and one of them called out the name JB, so the man recording himself turned, and the video ended.

“Upon hearing the name JB, I got frightened, so I decided not to go out but wait for the afternoon news to see if they will show any photograph of the murdered person which I had seen in the video.

“I waited in my room until 12 o’clock and saw the photographs of the murdered MP on television. The picture I saw matched with the image I saw in the video recording,” he narrated to the Accra High Court on Tuesday, July 13.

Mr Kuranchie said he immediately packed a few things and contacted a friend named Joe for advice.

After talking to his friend, they both decided to get in touch with another friend called Nana, who usually attends NPP meetings.

The rationale behind this was to get a ‘big person’ from the party to lead them to the police.

Nana mentioned that he attends meetings at Dansoman so he would get in touch with a big man in the Ablekuma West Constituency whose seat is occupied by the Communications and Digitalisation Minister Ursula Owusu Ekuful.

“He said he knows one or two senior constituency members at Dansoman who can assist to get to Ursula. He made efforts to get to Ursula but did not succeed. It was getting late, around 6 pm. Nana then indicated that if the phone belonged to the murderd MP, it was possible to get some contact from the phone.

“After flipping through the phone, we saw the contact of MP Ursula and called, but several times there was no response, so I suggested to them to send a message to Ursula indicating that somebody had brought us a mobile phone of the murdered NPP MP.

“Immediately we sent the message, she responded, and we narrated the whole issue to her. She then gave us direction to where she was for us to come over,” he narrated.

Kenneth Kuranchie is the third prosecution witness testifying in the case where two persons have been accused of murder.

Before his testimony, Stephen Apraku, a security guard at the late JB Danquah’s residence, had testified and discharged.

The driver of the late MP Samuel Berko Sarkodie also testified and discharged.

Examination continues for Kuranchie on July 14, 2021.

Facts

The provisional facts of the prosecution were that the former MP lived with his family at Shiashie, near East Legon, a suburb of Accra.

The accused persons’, Daniel Asiedu and Vincent Bosso, lived at Agbogbloshie, also in Accra.

According to the prosecution, between February 8 and 9, 2016, the late legislator was chauffeured home in his private car.

The driver reportedly handed over the ignition keys of the car to Mr Danquah-Adu and left for home, after which the MP retired to bed in a room located on the first floor of his house.

On February 9, 2016, at about 1 am, Asiedu and Bosso, armed with a catapult, cutter and sharp knife, went to the legislator’s house.

Bosso had assisted Asiedu to enter the house by scaling the wall on the blind side of a security man who was fast asleep.

Asiedu picked a ladder on entering the house, climbed onto a porch on the top floor, and entered the MP’s bedroom through a window while Mr Danquah-Adu was sleeping.

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

The MP consequently held the knife, and Asiedu pulled it through his hand, leaving a deep cut in his palm.

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

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

Asiedu and Bosso have since been charged with murder and abetment of crime in the murder of the late MP.

They both pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit robbery. Asiedu, on the other hand, has pleaded not guilty to murder and robbery.

Four years after the gruesome murder of the former MP, justice is yet to be served in the case.

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Story By Gloria KAFUI Ahiable / info@theghanareport.com