Two suspects remanded over alleged murder of a 16-year-old boy at Assin Manso

Correspondence from the Central Region

The Assin Fosu Magistrate District Court has remanded two suspects over the alleged murder of a 16-year-old old boy at Assin Manso in the Central Region.

The suspects, Francis Arhin, a 34-year-old farmer and John Coffie, a 38-year-old whose pleas were not taken will make their next appearance on Tuesday, April 15, 2023.

The court presided over by Mr Abdul Majid Illiasu adjourned the case to enable the police undertake further investigations

Prosecutor, Chief Inspector Gilbert Ayongo told the court that the complainant, Mr Stephen Coffie is a farmer residing at Assin Baafikrom as well as Coffie whilst Arhin resides at Wawase near Baafikrom.

He said the suspects are cousins and the deceased Emmanuel Amoah who lived at Assin Manso, owned a tricycle with registration number M-22-AW 1291 which was used for commercial purposes.

Sometime ago, Arhin hired the services of the deceased to Atia Labadi, a village near Assin Manso where they became friends and exchanged contact.

Chief Inspector Ayongo said Arhin later called Coffie and told him the gods were demanding human blood to cleanse him from an impending calamity.

Coffie agreed to assist Arhin and was offered an undisclosed amount of money as compensation to support the process of procuring a human being for the ritual.

The Prosecutor said Arhin later settled on the deceased, called him and requested for a friendly visit at the village.

On Monday, January 23, this year, the deceased left home for his usual tricycle business and never returned home and all efforts by his mother Madam Leticia Koomson and colleagues to locate him proved unsuccessful.

The following day, the mother lodged a formal complaint with the police at Assin Manso and investigations began.

Chief Inspector Ayongo stated that on the same day of the deceased's disappearance, Arhin was seen riding the motorbike of the deceased without the number plate and left it under the care of his sibling, Akua Asmah that he would later go for the bike.

He said that about 02:30 hours after the complaints was lodged, three residents of Assin Baafikrom including the complainant visited Arhin’s shrine on suspicion that he might have kidnapped the deceased.

Upon arrival, they found Arhin burning a dead object in a dug hole on the compound and suspected it to be a human being.

The Prosecutor said the residents returned without confrontation and alerted the elders of the town of their discovery.

On Wednesday, January 25, with the support of the elders and the three residents, Arhin was arrested by the police and after interrogation and investigations the police recovered parts of a completely burnt object and preserved it at the St Francis Xavier Hospital.

He said the sibling returned the motorbike to the police and the deceased mother identified ownership of the deceased and proved documents of the motorbike.

Investigations, however led to the arrest of Coffie and both were arraigned before the court.