An 18-year-old man, Nicolas Kini, who conspired with a teenager to kill a 10-year-old boy at Kasoa in 2021, for money ritual, will spend the rest of his life in prison as the High Court has passed a life sentence on him.
This was after a seven-member jury returned a verdict of guilty against him before the court, presided over by Justice Lydia OseiMarfo, a Court of Appeal judge, sitting with additional responsibility as a high court judge.
However, sentencing for the 15-year-old had been deferred to the juvenile court in line with section 18(1), Juvenile Justice Act 2003 Act (ACT 653).
The 15-year-old would be kept in police custody until a juvenile court gives a verdict on him.
The 15-year-old juvenile from the beginning of the trial ‘confessed’ to the crime both at the District Court during the committal and at the High Court where they stood trial.
He, therefore, pleaded not guilty to murder, but pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. However, the court entered a plea of ‘not guilty’ for him.
Kini, on the other hand, denied the offence both at the District Court and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to murder and a substantive charge of murder at the High Court.
As a result, he was asked to file a notice of alibi to substantiate his claim that he was not at the crime scene at the time of the incident.
However, his grandfather, who is now deceased, said he could not vouch for him.
In his defence, the 18-year-old told the jury that he had no knowledge of the death of Ishmael Mensah Abdallah.
Kiniadmitted knowing the deceased, but said, “I do not know anything about the death of Ishmael Mensah Abdallah”.
Aside accusing the 15-year-old juvenile of setting him up, Kini explained that the whole incident was a set up adding that he was not close to Abdallah to have hatched a plan to murder him.
He added that he only admitted to the crime originally because the police lured him.
During trial, the prosecution called seven witnesses who testified against the two accused persons detailing their accounts on the hideous crime which soaked public discussions about parenting.
Calling on the jury to return a guilty verdict against the accused persons, Ms. OseiBoakye, state attorney, attacked the credibility of the 18-year-old.
Specifically, she drew the jury’s attention to instances where the convict had given inconsistent testimony including telling lies about his age during investigations which was later rebutted by investigators from his old school records.
In addition to that, the state attorney further made reference to the testimony of the sixth prosecution witness, Chief Inspector AsieduOpare who conducted the investigations.
BY MALIK SULEMANA
