6 Legon Students Remanded For Murder

Six students of the University Of Ghana, Legon, standing trial for the alleged murder of a first year student of the university, Oheneba Kofi Nti-Boateng, have been remanded into prison custody by a Madina Magistrate court.

The suspects, Silas Bertrand, Augustine Mensah, Mark Odarno, Akwasi Apaw-Bimpeh, Yaw Twene and a yet-to-be-identified student, have been provisionally charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

The six will later face the District Magistrate Court in Accra to determine the extent of their involvement in the death of Oheneba Nti-Boateng a level 100 Business Administration student, on November 10, 2011.

The deceased met his untimely death when he allegedly fell from the third floor of Block B of the Ghana Hostels Limited, mainly known on campus as Pentagon, last weekend.

According to sources, the incident took place on Thursday, 27, October 25, 2011 after the deceased and his colleagues had returned to the hostel from a drinking night.

It was suspected that the excessive intake of alcohol might have had a devastating effect on him, while some are saying that he might have been poisoned.

However, doctors who examined the deceased did not rule out poisoning.

The docket, according to the police, has been sent to the Attorney General’s Department to decide on the specific charges to be given them.

Meanwhile, the suspects, according to information, were with the deceased in the room before he fell.

According to reports, Oheneba joined his friends in room 205 on Block B of the Pentagon Hostel for a chat after socialisation at Block A from 9pm on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 to 2:30am on Thursday, October 27, 2011.

According to the Crime Officer of the Legon Police, ASP Emmanuel Basintale, the police were baffled by the turn of events and were waiting for the postmortem report to determine the actual cause of death.

He said on Thursday, they received a report from the sister of the deceased, Abigail Nimako, that the family had information from the friends of Oheneba Nti-Boateng that he had fallen from the balcony of one of the hostels and died.

He said the police proceeded to the scene and investigations conducted so far had revealed that the incident occurred and that Oheneba Kofi Nti-Boateng, a resident of Block C, attended a drinking party organised by one of his friends on Block A.

After the party, the student joined his friends in Room 205 and stayed there for a while before he decided to retire to his room.

According to the police, shortly after coming out of the room onto the balcony, his friends said they heard an unusual noise which prompted them to rush out only to find that Oheneba Nti-Boateng had fallen to the floor and so they quickly rushed him to the Legon Hospital for treatment but he was transferred to the 37 Military Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.