Scores throng Aflao court to catch glimpse of murderers

Aflao, Sept 26, GNA - Scores of people on Friday thronged the Circuit Court at Aflao to catch a glimpse of James Dekpey, a 28-year-old farmer who conspired with four others to murder his daughter, Rose Dekpey, 7, at Klikor early this month.

The repeated broadcast by a local radio station of James Dekpey's second appearance in court alongside his four accomplices drew a large crowd.

The Court presided over by Group Captain Martin Obeng-Ntim (RTD) remanded the five accused persons.

Their pleas were not taken and they will be brought before the court again on October 24, this year.

James is alleged to have conspired with his relatives, Kwabla Dekpey and Emmanuel Kundo, Nelson Mandela Akli, 38, and his brother Christian Akli, 26, to murder his daughter at the outskirts of Satsimadza, a former Refugee Camp near Agbozume on the Aflao-Accra highway, on September 3. Police Chief Inspector Kofi Frimpong of Aflao told the Court that the accused persons are natives of Glidzi, near Agbozume, where the Dekpey brothers are also resident. Mandela, a building contractor and his brother Christian, are both resident at Ashaiman.

He said during a visit to Glidzi with Christian on August 29, Mandela told the victim's father in the presence of others that he was capable of making them wealthy through rites performed with human blood. Inspector Frimpong said James, the victim's father yielded to Mandela's demand to offer his daughter, his only child, then residing with her maternal grandmother.

He said at 1000 hours on Saturday September 3, James went for the victim in the absence of her grandmother to a spot in the bush where the others were hiding.

Inspector Frimpong said the accused persons put the girl on the ground with her father pinning her arms down. Kwabla, Emmanuel and Christian held her legs while Mandela slit her throat with a cutlass supplied by the victim's father.

When the accused persons were arrested the victim's father confirmed the act during interrogations.

Inspector Frimpong said police found no traces of blood at the scene of the murder, suggesting that the victim's blood might have been siphoned into a container and taken away. The body of the victim is at the Ketu District Hospital morgue at Aflao for autopsy.