Murderers Of Lebanese Before Court

The high-profile murder case in which a Lebanese businessman, Paul Feghali, was killed and his body abandoned in a bush at Lashibi is now ready for court.

This follows a directive from the Attorney General that three suspects, Noble Adu Gyamfi and two others who are now at large, should be prosecuted for the offence.

Two others, Redwan Zakkour, son of Ghanaian businessman, Harry Zakkour, and Christian King Borrey, were cleared of all charges in connection with the murder because no evidence was found against the two who were implicated by Adu Gyamfi.

The two suspects at large are a taxi driver and a man simply referred to as Wisdom. The three are to be charged with conspiracy to commit crime, namely murder, and the substantive offence of murder.

A police source told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday that the three had been charged as directed but the docket was yet to be sent back to the AG's office for preparation of the Bill of Indictment and summary of evidence to enable the suspects to stand trial.

According to the source, on August 7, 2005 at about 8.30 a.m., the deceased left his house at Tesano in his Nissan Murano vehicle, with registration number GR 8230 W, to play golf at the Tema Celebrity Club but was found dead the next day in a bush near Emef Estates at Lashibi.

At about 11.00 a.m. on August 7, 2005, Noble Adu Gyamfi together with a friend sent the deceased's vehicle to the Rhosanty Hotel at Community 18 and pleaded with the security officer, by name Francis Ayamba, to keep the vehicle for them whilst they called their master.

The two of them left the hotel and not quite long, Noble's friend came with a taxi and offloaded into it golf kit and bags from the vehicle of the deceased.

Shortly after that Redwan Zakour and Christian Borrey also came to the hotel in a private car and inspected the vehicle and told the security officer that they had been called by Noble to do so.

Just as they were about to leave the hotel, Noble arrived and they told him that the right side of the vehicle was dented and that they were not interested in it.

After that they boarded their vehicle and drove away. After their departure, according to the security officer, it took about 10 minutes before Noble Adu Gyamfi boarded the deceased's vehicle and drove away with his friend on board, followed by the taxi he brought earlier to carry the golf kits and bags.

Noble this time round drove the deceased's vehicle to Community 22 and pleaded with William Amuzu Avorgbedor to let him park the vehicle behind the uncompleted building where William stayed and he agreed.

According to Francis Ayamba, a security officer at Rhosanty Hotel, not long after Noble, his friend and the taxi had left his place, Redwan and Borrey returned to the hotel in a taxi and warned him not to entertain the likes of Noble and his friends.

On August 8, 2005 at about 5.30 a.m., Noble went to Community 22 where the vehicle had remained overnight, removed the number plates on it and threw them away and left.

William, who saw what Noble had done, went and retrieved the number plates from the bush after he left the area. On the same day at about 4.00 p.m., Noble went back to the area in a taxi, with registration number GT 4188 G, driven by one Cephas Abanyi, to inspect the vehicle and while there he spotted two policemen approaching, so he told the taxi driver to speed away.

They were, however, chased and arrested. Upon interrogation, Noble admitted parking the vehicle there and took the police to Sakumono village and handed over the keys to them.

He, however, mentioned Redwan and Christian as the persons who gave him the said vehicle for safe keeping. The two were immediately arrested but they denied the allegation and asserted that it was rather Noble and his friend who offered to sell the vehicle to them but they refused.

On August 10, 2005, all the suspects arrested in connection with this case were put before court and were remanded into custody.

Sackey Emos Kofi, who is a driver to Redwan Zakour, told the police that on August 7, 2005 at about 8.00 a.m., he was in the house of his master when one Wisdom, who usually came to tidy the compound, came in with Noble and said that Wisdom asked him for the telephone number of his master, with the explanation that he (Wisdom) had called his master's number several times but could not go through and so if he knew of another number of his master, he should give it to him.

He said further that at the time Wisdom and Noble Adu Gyamfi were in his master's house, he was still in the bedroom and that Wisdom even requested him to use his (Kofi's) phone to call him but he replied that he was not having credit on his phone.

It was then that Wisdom requested for a number by which he could get in touch with his master and he gave him 024-3772702, following which Wisdom and Noble left the house.

He said it was his first time of seeing Noble Adu Gyamfi.
According to a witness, Thomas Sogbodjor, Noble is an ex-driver of Redwan and was also a caddy to the deceased but got that job at the golf club terminated by the authorities because the deceased had reported to them that Noble had been stealing his (deceased's) money.

After a careful study of the evidence especially the statement of Francis Ayamba, the AG's Department was of the opinion that Noble and his two accomplices were responsible for Paul Feghali's death.

He, however, does not want to come out clearly with his accomplices. From the sequence of events, the person called Wisdom and the taxi driver in whose vehicle the golf kit and bags belonging to the deceased were loaded killed Feghali.

Since efforts to arrest Wisdom and the taxi driver in whose vehicle the golf kit and bags of the deceased were kept have proved futile, the AG's Department nevertheless advised that Noble Adu Gyamfi and the two be charged with murder.

It also recommended that any charge against Amuzu Williams Avorgbedor and Abanyi Cephas be dropped as there was no evidence in any way implicating them.