The tearful mother of the 15-year-old juvenile offender who is standing trial with one another has given a chilling testimony in the case in which her son is facing the charge of the murder of 10-year-old Ishmael Mensah Abdallah.
The 15-year-old juvenile and an 18-year-old young offender have been charged for conspiracy and murder.
So far, the trial has started with the father of the late Ishmael, and a sister of the 15-year-old juvenile offender having testified.
Taking her turn as the 3rd Prosecution Witness, the mother of the first accused, Emelia Donkor, narrated how she discovered her son’s friend was killed.
With tears dripping down her cheeks, the mother of the juvenile offender who was a trader, identified the first accused as her son while adding that the 18-year-old young offender and the deceased were friends to her son.
She told the court that on the morning of Saturday, April 3, 2021, “I went to fetch water and the woman who owns the water, told me to get someone to help me because she was going to church.”
She told the court that, after the first trip, she asked her children to call the first accused from Ishmael’s (deceased) mother’s place for her.
She said, when the children came back, they told her that, he asked that the mother sends his bucket to the vendor.
“When I returned from two trips, the third trip was when they brought his bucket.
“When I returned from fetching the water, (his sister – PW2), indicated to me that she went to the back of the uncompleted building to urinate and when she got there, the first accused asked her to return,” the mother recounted.
Asked by Ama Adoma Osei, the Principal State Attorney which uncompleted building she was referring to, she said “it’s close to my house.”
She told the court that after that, “I decided to go and see for myself why they (accused persons) asked PW2 (a daughter) to return.”
Uncompleted building
She said “When I got there, I stood at the window and decided to look through the room to see what was going on, then I saw that there was a portion which had been weeded.
“The place was raised up and I saw the footprints of three people and at that moment, I panicked,” she narrated.
“The foot sets of footprints I saw were in sizes. One appeared to be big, the second one was medium size, and the third one was small,” the Witness told the court.
She added: “After that, I went back to my room where my husband was sleeping and I woke him up and informed him about what PW2 (a daughter) told me.
“When I told him, he retorted, that I always panic. So he went with me to the uncompleted building to see for himself what had happened,” she told the court.
“When we got there, he also saw the same thing I indicated, a portion had been weeded and two blocks had been placed on the weeded portion.
She said “My husband entered the room and I asked him to lift those two blocks so we can see for ourselves what was under the blocks.
“When he lifted the blocks, we saw that the raised portion popped up further and after that, I just asked myself whether (the first accused) had killed someone’s fowl and had buried it for fear of being scolded,” she wondered.
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“Then my husband said how could (first Accused) kill someone’s fowl. But I was a bit jittery. So I suggested to my husband that he should take out the seal to see what was buried.
“There was a small room near the raised portion we had seen and my husband saw a shovel in this small room. So my husband picked up the shovel and started removing the sand from the popped-up place.”
Oozing blood, hand popped up
She told the court that, her husband then saw blood coming out of the place and “I said to my husband, it appears there is something buried there and my husband responded, that yes.”
She told the court that she also got scared and “He dredged further and someone’s hand came up.
“When we saw that, we were even more scared. I said to him, that now that the hand has come out, we did not know who it was so we should dig further to know or identify who it was, so my husband brought out the buried body and it was Ishmael.”
According to EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Murtala Inusah, both the 15-year-old juvenile offender and the mother could not look at each other with the accused particularly looking faced down throughout the hearing.
The case has been adjourned to Monday, April 4, 2023, for continuation.
Not guilty plea
While the 15-year-old accused had confessed to their involvement in the murder from the District Court, the 18-year-old accused has, however, denied his involvement.
However, taking their pleas on charges of conspiracy and murder before the trial court, the 15-year-old accused pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy but pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.
The 18-year-old accused on the other hand pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Justice Osei Marfo’s court, however, entered a plea of not guilty for the 15-year-old accused because the offence was a conspiracy to murder and as a result, had to be tried by the jury.
The charges were read to them in their preferred local languages.
Jury
The jury is made up of seven ordinary, but educated persons, who, subject to the directions of the judge, will decide the guilt or innocence of the accused in a case tried upon indictment.
After the seven-member jury had been empanelled, they were sworn in and they chose one of their own as a leader (foreman).
They are expected to arrive at a unanimous verdict which is binding on the court.