The Enchi District Magistrate court has granted GH￠160,000 bail with seven sureties to four persons, accused of murdering a 40 year-old man at Mile 4 in the Aowin Municipality of the Western North Region.
Jamilah Issaka, 24, Abigail Avoryi, 28, are apprentice hairdressers and Tay William, 31, illegal miner were granted GH￠50,000 each with two sureties each, while Nana Asamoah Korkorle, a 56-year-old farmer who is the chief of Mile 4 had GH￠10,000 bail with one surety.
Charged with conspiracy to commit crime, murder, abatement and hindrance of inquest, their pleas were not taken and they would make their next appearance in court on Tuesday December 12, 2023.
Detective Inspector Joseph Kwadwo Agyare, prosecuting, told the court presided over by Mr Lawrence Buanor-Buer that, the Enchi Police Command had a tip-off that someone had been murdered at Mile 4.
Based on the information, the police went to the scene, but the deceased was not found, and the team proceeded to the house of Jemilah, girlfriend of the deceased, where the crime was allegedly committed.
On the way to Jamilah’s house, the police found a pair of slippers, which belonged to the deceased, signs of a struggle at Jamilah’s house and some coins on her compound.
The prosecutor said spot investigations revealed that on October 9, 2023, at about 2000 hours, Coffie visited his girlfriend (Jemilah) in her house at Mile 4, and met Tay who also claimed to be the fiancé of Jemilah.
The two had a scuffle and when Jemilah realized Coffie was motionless, she therefore, called Abigail for assistance.
The two then carried Coffie to the road side and later agreed to send him to the Enchi Government Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The police extended its investigations to the facility and the body was examined but there was no sign of foul play. It was later conveyed to the Enchi Government Hospital morgue for preservation on October 10, 2023.
Inspector Agyare said Nana Korkorle, the chief, moved the body from the Enchi Government Hospital morgue to the Agyapa funeral home, a private morgue at Agyakaa on the Enchi -Asankragwa road without the knowledge of the police.
A team of investigators visited the facility during which the body of Coffie was seen lying in a supine position on a concrete platform with indications that it had been tempered with formalin, (a chemical used to preserve dead bodies)
The prosecutor said all the suspects were arrested and provisionally charged with the offences.
Inspector Agyare informed the court that the pathologist police engaged to help established the course of death, after examining the body said there was no foul play, and advised that some parts of the body such as the brain, heart and liver should be sent to the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) for further investigations.