Court remands taxi driver arrested over ritual murder

An Accra Circuit court has remanded to police custody, the 35-year-old taxi driver, who allegedly claimed on Onua TV that he had killed several persons, including a pregnant woman for ritual purposes.

The accused, Felix Ansah, who appeared before the court, presided over by Ms Rosemond Baah Tosu, pleaded not guilty to the charge of publication of false news.

However, Ansah’s counsel, Mr Theophilus Donkor, in his application for bail, told the court that his client was speaking in a spiritual realm adding: “If anything at all, it is Onua TV that made the publication and not the accused person”.

The prosecution, represented by Chief Inspector Godfred Asideu Bampoe, who held the brief for Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sylvester Asare, opposed the bail application, urging the court to remand the accused person to enable the police complete its investigation.

The presiding judge, remanded the accused person to re-appear on September 16, this year.

Facts

The facts, as presented by the Chief Inspector Bampoe, were that on September, 2021, the attention of Police was drawn to a statement made or published on the "Maakye show on Onua Televisan station by the accused to the effect that he buried alive a pregnant woman at Ashaiman.

Upon the receipt of this information, the prosecutor said the Police launched investigation into the matter which led to the arrest of the accused.

Preliminary investigation revealed that accused is a taxi driver and resides at Wejia, Accra.

The prosecutor said it was also established during investigation that on September 2, 2021 at Onua TV's morning show "Maakye” with the host Captain Smart, the accused in a response to a question from the host stated that he (accused) had killed several persons in the past.

“Additionally, the accused person also stated that he buried a pregnant woman alive at Ashiaman to perform sacrifice for Alfred Agbesi, the former MP for Ashaiman,” Chief Inspector Bampoe told the court.

However, the prosecutor said the police was yet to extend investigation to locate the scene of the alleged buried and other persons mentioned by the accused person.