The Graphic carries on its front page a chilling story of a cold- blooded murder of a nine-year-old boy. The story says a 40-year-old man aat Mallam near Accra, has been arrested by the police for slashing the throat of a nine-year-old boy. The Graphic says the victim whose name was given only as Maama came to live with the suspect, Yattara Hamadi, a Malian, two months ago to learn how to read the Koran. The paper says Assistant Superintendent of Police, Nana Amankwah, District Crime Officer of the Odorkor Police Station, giving details said about one and a half years ago, Hamadi came to Ghana from Mali and was based at Yeji in the Brong Ahafo Region where he practised as a Mallam. ASP Amankwah said the suspect later met on Alhaji Karri, father of the victim, and upon his request, Hamadi read the Koran and prayed for him. In the course of time, Alhaji Karri allowed Maama, his son, to go and stay with Hamadi to learn how to read the Koran. ASP Amankwah said after sometime Hamadi and the deceased left Nima and came to Mallam where for about two and a half monthsthey lived with a friend whose name was given as Sulley. He said on the day of the incident, Wednesday October 8, while the deceased had gone to a nearby room used as a place of convenience, Hamadi immediately followed him into the room, held and threw him down and cut his throat. ASP Amankwah said two residents of Mallam reported the incident to the police and Hamadi was arrested holding a blood-stained cutlass and squatting near the deceased who was lying in a pool of blood. GRI
In another story on its front page, the Graphic reports that a journalist of the "African Observer", Kwesi Biney, was yesterday granted a 10 million-cedi bail when he appeared before the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal charged with intentinal libel. Biney was charged together with Gordon George-Iroro, a journalist , Steve Mallory, the editor and publisher and Frank Awuah, the distributor of the news magazine in Ghana. They were said to have acted together in September, tis year weith a common purpose to unlawfully publish defamatory matters concerning Dr Obed Asamoah, the Attorney-General, with the intent to defame him. The Graphic says Biney was the only accused person at the tribunal yesterday, adding that the tribunak chairman, Mr G. Wright- Mensah, requested the prosecution to serve Mallory, who is resident in the United States with the action through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Accused persons, the Graphic says, allegedly published the defamatory matter in the African Observer of September 4-10 that Dr Asamoah has learnt nothing about integrity and still resorts to the old tricks he applied while struggling to practise law - using his toe to fake thumb-prints. GRI
"Three convicts demand extra sentence", is the headline of a story in the centre spread of the Graphic which says three convicted persons who felt they were too poor to refund 200,000 cedis they stole from an Accra trader, yesterday asked an Accra Community Tribunal to convert the fine to jail term. Yaw Mensah Honu, Alhassan Ibrahim and Kwasi Prempeh, all porters in Accra Central, were therefore sentenced to three months' additional jail terms in hard labour each. They were originally sentenced to six months' imprisonment each for conspiracy and theft and were to refund the stolen money. The two sentences are to run concurrently. The accused persons who pleaded guilty were convicted on their own plea. GRI
