Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, a High Court judge, cried on Thursday as she read out the harrowing details of how two adolescents allegedly murdered 10-year-old Ishmael Mensah Abdallah in Kasoa last year.
The trial judge grew upset when reciting the basic facts of the case in her judgement, signaling that the two boys accused of murdering Abdallah will now face a jury trial.
The trial judge paused, raised her spectacles, and wiped tears from her eyes after referring to a part of the facts in which one of the defendants hit Abdallah in the head with a club and the dead prayed for forgiveness if he had offended them.
“I apologize,” the Judge said to the courtroom’s audience.
The Court had previously stated that the juvenile offenders would be tried summarily, but when it reconvened today, it decided that the trial would be conducted by jury.
If they are found guilty at the end of the trial, they will be brought to the Juvenile Court for sentence, according to the Court.
The hearing has been rescheduled until July 5.
A minor (name withheld) who is also a school dropout, as well as Felix Nyarko, a student, were charged with conspiracy to kill and murder.
On April 3, 2021, the two teenagers were accused of murdering Ishmael Mensah Abdallah for ritual purposes after luring him into an unfinished structure and killing him with a club and a cement block.
