Abesim murder suspect committed to stand trial at High Court

The 28-year-old man alleged to have murdered two children at Abesim in the Bono Region has been committed to stand trial at the High Court. 

Richard Appiah was committed by the Kaneshie District Court presided over by Ama Adomako Kwakye last Wednesday.

He is expected to appear before the High Court on August 16, 2023, for his plea to be taken.

The committal comes after the prosecution, led by a State Attorney, Nana Ama Adinkra, tendered autopsy reports of the two minors, partially burnt clothes, slippers of the minors and their pictures, among others, as part of the committal proceedings.

She said the state would rely on six witnesses to establish its case at the High Court.

The defence counsel, T. K. Dzimega, on the other hand, said the accused person would be calling two witnesses from Abesim in his defence.

Appiah was initially said to have experienced mental instability, but has been declared fit to stand trial by medical experts.  

Background

Appiah is alleged to have murdered his stepbrother and two others, aged between 12 and 15 years.

After reports were made to the police on August 20, 2021, they found one of the deceased persons body cut into pieces in a fridge, while two other bodies were found in other rooms in his home.

The police later discovered human intestines believed to belong to one of the children buried on a cocoa farm at Abesim.

The police had the intestines exhumed pending analysis and forensic examination.

Two cutlasses with bloodstains were also retrieved from the scene.

The suspect was arrested at Abesim after a relative of one of the victims had reported to the Sunyani Police that his son was missing on August 20, 2021.