The Konongo District Court, in the Ashanti Region, has remanded five accused persons arrested in connection with the death of the first-year male student of the Konongo-Odumase Senior High School.
The suspects have been sent to a Juvenile Detention Center at Juaso in the Asante Akim South Municipality to reappear on 15th November 2021.
The first accused person has been charged provisionally with murder, while the four others were charged with abetment to commit a crime.
The court presided over by Her Worship Joyce Bamfo has referred the matter to the supervising High Court Judge to ensure due processes are followed because of the ages of the accused persons.
Two of the accused persons are 16 years, while the three others are 17 years.
The Court granted the plea by the police to remand the juveniles after they asked for more time to investigate the matter.
Konongo Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Shaibu Osei, who spoke to journalists after proceedings, said they have put together a team of investigators to look at the matter speedily, and ensure they meet the legal timeline of six months to complete the trial.
“We brought the juveniles to court and as investigations are not completed, we came to get them remanded so investigations continue. Thankfully, the court granted our request, and they have been remanded to reappear on the 15th of November to court.”
“The court has directed the registrar to forward all recordings to the supervising High Court judge to direct the court on the next line of action… They cannot be remanded for more than 7 days so next week we will come back to court and since they are in our custody, we will investigate the matter and update the court, and we have within six months to finish the trial, and we have put up an investigative team to ensure that we are within time.”
Meanwhile, Richard Adu Darko, the lawyer for the prime suspect, said they are committed to the process and look forward to returning to court to argue out their case next week.
He said the suspects appeared remorseful when they appeared before the judge for Monday’s proceedings.
“It is quite unfortunate that children at this stage will commit this offense, but for now, it is an alleged crime. We pleaded for bail for them, but the court declined it. When they reappear, the court will continue the process. Their pleas were not taken because this is not a court that has jurisdiction over the matter. When the committal process ends here, then they will go to the high court and their pleas will be taken. When you go through such an experience and especially at their young ages, they are very remorseful, but it is unfortunate that we have to go through this,” he said.
About the death
According to a police statement, the students went on a bullying spree on the night of Friday, November 5, 2021, after prep hours, leading to the attack on the deceased, Sam’un Larhan, 15.
Larhan Sam’un, the deceased, was stabbed with a knife by his colleague after he attempted to resolve a scuffle between the suspect and his mates.
Preliminary investigations by the police show that the prime suspect, 17-year-old Emmanuel Frimpong was abusing some form-one students and upon resistance by some students, he stabbed Larhan Sam’un to death.
