The trial of the two teens who are accused of killing an 11-year-old child in Kasoa last year as part of a money ritual is set to start on March 7, 2023. The day before, the prosecution will call its first witness.
The prosecution plans to call seven witnesses at the trial of (name withheld) and another person, who are both charged with first-degree murder and plotting to kill someone.
Even though one of the defendants, who is seen as the main suspect and who admitted to the crime during the committal process, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder and not guilty to murder, the court ruled that he was not guilty of murder.
Yesterday, the court, led by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, the defense lawyers Samuel Atuah and Martin Kpebu, and the prosecution, led by Senior State Attorney Nana Adoma Osi, all agreed on the pre-trial plan. This made it possible for the trial to start.
At the last meeting, the seven-person panel heard from the prosecution and defense lawyers in the case.
In her speech, Nana Adoma Osei read a short summary of the case, which showed that the teenagers were influenced by a spiritualist who asked them to bring a human being for a ritual that would make them rich.
She also said that for the murder and conspiracy charges against the two defendants to be proven, it would be necessary to show that someone died because of what the defendants did.
She said that the prosecution would show that a cement block and a pickaxe club were used to kill the person.
Ms. Osei said again that the prosecution will show that the defendants did something wrong that led to the death of the victim.
The prosecution also said that “all the evidence gathered shows that the accused people killed the dead and no one else.”
Samuel Atuah said in defense of the first defendant that a death alone does not prove murder.
He said that the jury will have to decide if the first defendant killed the victim on purpose or if there was a good reason for it.
Martin Kpebu’s lawyer, Kormivi Dzotsi, said that Kpebu was too young to understand how bad what he did was and what could happen as a result.
As the trial went on, he asked the jury to think about “whether or not A2 really did the things that are being said about him and, if he did, whether or not he understood and appreciated what he was doing and what it meant, if at all.”
Source: Club Mate
