Juror in Kasoa teenagers’ murder case returns to court
The juror in the Kasoa teenagers’ murder case, who absented himself from the last sitting, appeared before an Accra High Court on Tuesday.
This was after the court presided over by Justice Mrs Lydia Osei Marfo last week, ordered him to appear in court or face arrest.
Last week, the court had to adjourn the case following the absence of the juror.
A foreman of the seven-member jury, had informed the court that the juror, an employee of the Department of Social Welfare, had written to the court to abandon the trial.
The court did not take kindly to the foreman’s excuse, because the absence of the juror would compel the court to start its proceedings afresh.
When the case was called on Tuesday, the court’s registrar was asked to explain how the letter written by the juror to abandon the trial was not received early by the court.
The registrar said he had showed the letter to some court clerks in two out of five courts.
The juror said after discussions with his superiors, he had decided to continue his work as a juror.
The trial finally commenced with the State calling its first prosecution witness, Mr Frank Mensah Abdallah, father of the murdered 11-year-old boy, Ishmael Mensah Abdallah.
Mr Abdallah, who was led in evidence by Nana Adomah Osei, a Senior State Attorney, said he was the father of the deceased and admitted knowing the juvenile offenders.
The father said the first accused (the minor) was his son’s friend and that he got to know the second accused because of the case.
Mr Abdallah said in April 2021, when he was in Krachi Nkwanta, in the Oti Region, he received a phone call from Ishmael, his son, asking him to visit the family.
The witness said when he visited the family and stepped out, he saw the first accused’s (minor) father holding the hands of the two teenagers.
“When I asked what happened to my son, the two teenagers looked at each other in the face. The first accused person (minor) said it was the second accused person (young offender) who killed him,” the witness said.
The two teens are being held on to the charge of conspiracy and murder.
They are alleged to have murdered the victim on April 3, 2021, for ritual purposes, after they had allegedly lured the victim into an uncompleted building and killed him with a club and cement block at Kasoa. — GNA
