Italian murder suspect freed

Serradura Luigi, the Italian accused of murdering his 74-year-old partner, Bellunatu Egle, at their Amasaman residence in the Greater Accra Region, has been freed by the Accra Central Magistrate Court.

This followed advice from the Attorney-General’s (A-G’s) Department that the suspect should be released.

Mrs. Dora Araba Eshun, the magistrate, after receiving the advice on the case, finally let the accused off the hook yesterday.

He was in court with his lawyer, William Addo, and he (accused) looked relieved after his discharge.

The trial magistrate after a year-long proceedings, ordered the state attorney in charge of the case to come and explain why there was an undue delay in giving the advice; and the attorney appeared in court to explain matters.

He told the court that the advice was ready, and the magistrate ordered that a supplementary copy should be made available to her immediately.

Suspect Luigi, 62, was charged with murder and has denied any wrongdoing.

ASP Abadamloora, who presented the facts, said the suspect and the deceased (Egle) were both Italian pensioners resident in Ghana.

He said the deceased, who fell in love with the accused person, sold her house in Italy to put up a three-bedroom house at Kuntunse, near Accra, and they moved in together in 2009.

Furthermore, he stated that Bellunatu bought a pick-up vehicle which the couple used for their activities.

He said on October 29, 2013, Dzakpasu, a hired cleaner, went to the house with the intent to clean the house but when he got there, the door was locked so he knocked several times but there was no response.

He then tried the mobile phone contact of Egle but she did not pick the call so after some time he (Dzakpasu) found the key to the main door, opened it and found the woman lying at the entrance in a pool of blood.

The prosecutor indicated that the cleaner consequently called the accused and they went to lodge a complaint with the police at Amasaman.

According to the prosecution, Luigi alleged that robbers had attacked his house and taken an Acer laptop, Ghc4000; €1,000 and two mobile phones.

In addition, he stated that the victim was lying in a supine position, meaning the body was carefully placed at the entrance of the main door.

He disclosed that the weapon used in killing Bellunatu could not be traced.