The Kaneshie District Court has remanded two persons who have been held for the murder of one Wendy Fynn Morris at Japan Motors – Lakeside Estate near Madina.
The two – Ebenezer Boison alias (Nana Kofi Owusu), a driver, and Nana Akwasi Adu alias (Suzuki) – a trader are also facing charges of conspiracy and robbery.
The two are said to have conspired to murder one madam Morris, a businesswoman in 2018. A third suspect, Kofi Somoah is on the run.
They have been remanded into police custody while the prosecution is awaiting advice on the case docket from the Attorney General’s Department.
Inspector Amoah said suspect Boison posed as a lecturer at the University of Development Studies (UDS) -Tamale Campus (which he is not) to lure madam Morris which led to her death.
Brief facts
The facts of the case as presented to the court by Inspector Richard Amoah were that the complainant is Rev Elsie Ansah and is a resident of Teshie.
He said Mr Boison is the first accused person (A1) and a driver based at Libya Quarters at Madina while Akwasi Adu (A2) is a trader at Asofan. With suspect Somoah, an ex-convict (A3) currently at large.
According to the prosecutor, on December 19, 2018, the complainant reported that her junior sister, madam Morris, aged 40 had been kidnapped by A1 who posed as a lecturer at the UDS- Tamale Campus and arranged to travel with her sister to Takoradi on December 15, 2018, to collect some household items.
He said the complainant received information that her sister, who went out with A1 at Madina on December 14, at about 9:pm was found murdered and body dumped at Japan Motors-Nsuano near Lakeside Estate.
The prosecutor said investigations revealed that A1 met A2 and A3, an ex-convict when he was on remand at Nsawam Prisons and they become friends.
He said while in prison the three engaged in mobile money fraud and were able to defraud some people including the deceased.
He said, after their release from prison in 2018, they met at A3’s residence at Asofan near Ofankor where they agreed that they were not going to engage in fraud because it was no longer lucrative as people had become aware of their modus operandi.
Inspector Amoah said, they then decided to go into vehicles and selling and that, during the early part of December 2018, A2 organised a meeting at his residence where A1 and A2 were present. He said they strategised to rob the deceased of her Toyota Rav 4 ST Wagon 2015 model with registration number GT 9520-18.
On December 14, 2018, he said about 9: pm, A1 in the company of A2 lured the deceased to meet them at Madina Zongo under the pretext of taking her to Takoradi the following day to collect some household items.
He said A1 convinced her to let him drive her car whilst she sat in front of the passenger seat with A2 sitting behind her.
The two, the prosecutor said, were armed with a knife and orange nylon robe respectively and drove Madam Morris to the Centre for Research Into African Tradition and culture popularly known as AHLIJAH at Japan Motors near Lakeside Estate at about 12:20 am on December 15, 2018.
He said upon reaching a portion of the road, A2 used the nylon robe to strangulate the deceased while A1 stabbed her twice on her lower stomach.
After killing her, the accused persons dumped the body at a bushy place near the wall of Japan Motors-Nsuano few meters from where A1 lives with the mother.
They then drove her vehicle to the house of A3 for safekeeping for four days. They later took the vehicle to Eric Addo Metal Works, located at Agya Appiah, a suburb of Ofankor where the actual registration plate of the vehicle was removed.
The prosecutor said, A3 with the assistance of one Bright Teye, a witness in this case took the vehicle to one Alhassan as collateral to collect a loan on behalf of A1 but was unsuccessful.
Mr Teye said he then suggested that they should contact one Stephen Abugri for the loan which they did but Mr Abugri said he did not have money.
The prosecutors said, the following day, Mr Teye contacted the said Mr Abugri on a phone that A1 had decided to sell the vehicle with the consent of his brother who was allegedly the actual owner of the vehicle to be brought to him at ‘Gonja Spot’ located at Ashaiman-Lebanon.
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He said, on receipt of the vehicle, Mr Abugri drove it to Aflao and sold same to one ‘Taller’ for GHc50, 000.00. He made part payment of GHc30,000.00 with the remaining balance of GHc20,000.00 to be paid when the documents of the vehicle are handed over to him.
He said Mr Abugri brought to A1 the cash of GHc30, 000 being proceeds accrued from the sale of the vehicle, and A1 he said gave GH¢3,000 to Mr Abugri to be shared evenly with Mr Teye.
According to him, on August 18, 2019, police had information that A1 had been arrested for his involvement in another robbery case in Kumasi and the police went for him to assist with investigations.
Cause of death
During interrogation, A1 mentioned A2, as his accomplice, and on October 27, 2020, A2 was arrested and on interrogation, he admitted the offense and mentioned A3 as an accomplice.
He said, on January 9, 2019, a post-mortem examination was performed on the body of madam Morris by Dr Owusu Afriyie, the Pathologist who gave the cost of death as strangulation, gophyxial death, and suspected homicide (unnatural).
The court, presided over by Her Worship, Ama Adomako Kwakye, has adjourned the case to April 10, 2021.