6 Teenagers remanded over Asiakwa teacher’s death

The six teenagers who allegedly beat and killed a teacher at Asiakwa in the Eastern Region have been remanded in prison custody by the Kibi Magistrate Court.

All six teenagers pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy to murder and murder.

They are to reappear on May 26, 2019, during which the committal process to have them stand a full trial is expected to begin.

They are Richard Anani,18; Emmanuel Mireku,18, and Philip Okodie,18.

The rest are Paul Boadu, 19; Evans Aboagye, 18, and Ezekiel Boadu, 19.

The plea for bail by the lawyer for the accused persons, Mr Peter Nimo, was turned down by the court, presided over by Alice Efua Yirenkyi.

Precursor

The six teenagers are alleged to have assaulted a junior high school teacher of the Salvation Army Basic School at Asiakwa, George Somuah Bosompem, leading to his death.

Four of the accused teenagers appeared before the Kibi Magistrate Court on May 7, 2019, during which they were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and murder.

Later, the Eastern Regional Police Command arrested two more suspects, who were part of those in court yesterday.

Initial investigations

According to the Eastern Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police ( DSP) Ebenezer Tetteh, initial investigations by the police showed that the six teenagers assaulted the deceased when he warned them to stay off his backyard, where they had allegedly been engaging in all manner of anti-social behaviour.

Aside from that, they were also allegedly stealing farm produce from the deceased’s backyard farm.

Apparently, a threat from the deceased that he was going to inform the police to arrest those invading his backyard infuriated the young men, who, according to the police, accosted him in the vicinity, handing him an assault which had sent him to an early grave.

False ages

According to DSP Tetteh, police investigations also revealed that with the exception of the two who were later arrested, the first four suspects deceived the police as far as their ages were concerned.

He said the suspects were former pupils of the Salvation Army Basic School and so further checks were made from the school records.

The suspects had given 18 and 19 as their ages, but DSP Tetteh said police investigations showed that they were above 20 years.

Impact

The assault and subsequent death of the 55-year-old teacher have impacted negatively on education in the community.

Currently, teaching and learning in all the four public schools at Asiakwa — the Salvation Army Basic School, the Methodist Basic School, the Roman Catholic Basic School and the Presbyterian Basic School — have been halted.

The Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, at a meeting with the teachers last Monday, appealed to them to rescind their decision and go back to the classroom, as their continued absence would affect the schoolchildren.

The schools were, for instance, unable to organise their final mock examination for the JHS 3 pupils due to the incident.

The mock examination has been postponed to Monday, May 20, 2019 because the teachers are expected to resume today.

Dr Prempeh, accompanied by the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and other officers of the GES hierarchy, also visited the family of the deceased to commiserate with it.