Accra,- An Accra High Court has empaneled a seven-member jury to hear the case of Lucas Agboyie, a Togolese national, who allegedly defiled and strangled a seven-year-old girl at Atadeka-Zenu, near Ashaiman in 2015.
Agboyie aka Sympathy, Sky lover, Agbey, Gabriel had been committed to stand trial by a District Court for murder.
The victim, now deceased, was said to have passed by a metal container where Agboyie resided, and he abducted and killed her.
The seven-year-old girl was sent by her mother with a GHS20 note to buy bread but never returned.
The body of the girl was found lying supine on an old student’s mattress, with blood oozing from her mouth and nostrils in Agboyie’s metal container.
Agboyie has however denied the charge of murder and has been lawfully remanded into prison custody.
The Court presided over by Mrs Justice El-Freda Dankyi has adjourned the matter to January 12, 2022. The prosecution and defense counsel would address the jury.
Mrs Francisca Tete-Mensah, a Principal State Attorney, represented the state, while Mr Sani Rashid represented the accused.
At the District court in the year 2016, accused person had confessed to killing the seven-year-old, after which he had sex with her corpse.
On November 25, 2018, Agboyie’s counsel from the Legal Aid Scheme, Mr Eric Opoku, filed an application seeking for an order for a psychiatric examination to be conducted on his client.
Counsel held that he was unable to have meaningful interactions with his client to mount any defense for him.
On February 25, 2019, Mr Opoku moved the application, which was subsequently granted by the Court.
Consequently, a psychiatric examination was conducted on the accused to ascertain fitness to stand trial.
The victim (Ruth Ankomah) was a pupil at a school in Zenu, Ashiaman. On April 19, 2015, at about 0800 hours, her mother prepared porridge and gave the victim GHS20.00 to purchase bread at a nearby shop for breakfast.
The victim’s mother after waiting for a long time without the victim’s became alarmed and started searching for her in the area but to no avail.
Later, the victim’s mother was informed that the accused was seen pulling the victim into his container.
A search team was mounted, and they found the body of the victim lying supine on an old student mattress with blood oozing from her nostrils and mouth.
A search team arrested Agboyie during the search and he confessed killing the victim and having sex with her for an hour.
Accused during interrogation explained that he wanted to have sex with the victim, but she screamed hence he strangled her after which he had sex with her.
When the Police visited the scene in April 2015, bruises were found on the neck of the deceased with her vagina swollen while her pants, sandals and dress were lying beside her.
The Police also discovered two wrappers of cannabis sativa, GHS10, an NHIS and another Hospital card, bearing the name of Obeng Oscar.
The deceased body was deposited at the morgue and autopsy conducted indicated that the deceased died as a result of consistent strangling.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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