A High Court in Ghana has sentenced 18-year-old Nicholas Kini to life imprisonment after a jury found him and his 15-year-old accomplice guilty of the 2021 murder of a 10-year-old boy in Kasoa. The killing was reportedly part of a money ritual.
The seven-member jury delivered a unanimous verdict, convicting the two teenagers on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and the substantive charge of murder. The presiding judge, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, handed down the life sentence to Kini.
Due to his age, sentencing for the 15-year-old accomplice has been deferred to the Juvenile Court, in accordance with Ghana’s Juvenile Justice Act of 2003 (Act 653). The act mandates that juveniles involved in joint trials with adults be sentenced in juvenile court. Until sentencing, the younger boy will remain in police custody.
The prosecution, led by Nana Adoma Osei, had urged the jury to deliver a guilty verdict, while defence lawyers Samuel Atuah and Lawrence Boampong, standing in for Martin Kpebu, had argued for their clients’ acquittal.
In a statement following his sentencing, Kini appealed to the court and the victim’s family to summon the deceased’s spirit, claiming that “he is the only person that can say the truth.”
The case, which shocked the nation, has brought renewed attention to the influence of money rituals in some communities.
Source:TheDotNews