After three years of legal proceedings, two teenagers have been found guilty of the murder of a 10-year old boy.
The incident occurred in 2021 at Kasoa. The teenagers, 18-year old Nicholas Kini and his colleague of 15 years at the time of the incident, conspired to kill Ishmael Abdallah, a ten-year old boy for money ritual.
While a High Court has sentenced the second accused, Nicholas to life imprisonment, the first accused, who was fifteen in the year of the incident will be sentenced by a juvenile court, as the High court has no jurisdiction over sentencing minors.
The gruesome murder of Ishmael came about as a result of the two teenagers’ quest to acquire wealth through ritual means. According to investigations, the first accused revealed that they had been lured by an advertisement by a ritualist who proposed great wealth in return for an amount of 15,000 cedis and a human blood.
To fullfil this requirement, the first accused sought the assistance of his eighteen-year old colleague. They successfully lured ten-year old Ishmael into an uncompleted building where they attacked him and finally smashed his head with cement blocks.
A medical report indicated that Ishmael suffered asphyxiation, suggesting he had been buried alive.
Seven witnesses were interrogated during prosecution, with each of them confirming the first accused was complicit. According to his father, the first accused disclosed his involvement and that of Nicholas’ in murdering Ishmael.
Crucial evidence was also presented by the first accused’s sister, who claimed to have seen Nicholas Kini and her brother at the crime scene on the day of the incident.
Her suspicions led to the finding of the body and the teenage boys’ confession.
Meanwhile, Nicholas Kini insisted on his innocence during the trial, even though the first accused acknowledged the crime and entered a guilty plea to conspiracy but not murder. According to him, he was set up by the first accused.
The seven-member jury found both boys guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder after deliberating for a while.
In her concluding speech, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo implored the jury to make a conclusion that reflected the nation’s conscience.
Source: Dehotpress
Thank you for reading from Dehotpress, a Ghanaian news website. You are welcome to share this story on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., and you can also follow us there.
Discussion about this post