Abesim killer goes in for life

A High Court in Accra has sentenced Richard Appiah to life imprisonment after a seven-member jury unanimously found him guilty on two counts of murder in connection with the killing of two minors at Abesim in the Sunyani Municipal District of the Bono Region.
The trial, presided over by Justice Ruby Aryeetey, concluded on Tuesday with the jury returning a guilty verdict against Appiah, who was 31 years old at the time of the incident in August 2021.
Appiah, a craftsman and footballer who previously played for Okum Apim FC, a Division Two club, was accused of murdering his stepbrother, Louise Agyemang Jnr, and a close neighbour, Stephen Sarpong, aged 12 and 13 respectively.
In his address to the jury, defence counsel Faustinus Yirilabuo urged the panel to return a special verdict of guilty but insane, arguing that Appiah was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the offences.
“We have reached the end of a tragic and profoundly disturbing case. Two young lives were cut short, and the families have been met with unimaginable grief,” counsel said.
He contended that while the physical acts leading to the deaths were not in dispute, the key issue was Appiah’s mental state at the time.
“It is your task not only to look at what happened but to look into why. The law recognises that criminal liability is not exacted in all cases,” he argued.
Mr. Yirilabuo cited Appiah’s behaviour after his arrest, including claims that he was acting under spiritual command, as well as medical assessments from two psychiatric hospitals which initially declared him unfit to stand trial. He told the court that Appiah only became fit for trial after consistent medication.
According to the defence, Appiah did not understand the nature and consequences of his actions.
“He indicated in his statement that a spirit commanded him to kill the young boys. The disease caused him not to know the consequences of his act,” counsel submitted, referencing provisions under Sections 27 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), and 137 of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30).
However, Senior State Attorney Nana Ama Adinkrah urged the jury to return a guilty verdict, maintaining that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.
She recounted the prosecution’s evidence that both victims were strangled, with Stephen Sarpong later beheaded and dismembered.
Addressing the insanity defence, the prosecution argued that Appiah’s actions after the incident suggested awareness and intent.
“A person who is mentally unwell would not take steps to cover his tracks after the commission of a crime. This points to the fact that he knew what he had done was wrong,” Adinkrah told the jury.
In her summation, Justice Aryeetey reminded the jury that they were the sole finders of fact and were not bound by her directions. She outlined the essential elements of the offence of murder and the possible verdicts available — guilty or guilty but insane — cautioning the panel not to be swayed by sympathy.
Appiah, who mounted the witness box in his defence, denied intentionally killing the victims. He told the court that he was hearing voices and did not know what came over him at the time of the incident.
He claimed that he believed he was escorting one of the boys home and suggested that unknown persons might have planted body parts in his room to implicate him due to a land dispute.
After deliberations, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty on both counts of murder.
“The jury having found the accused guilty by unanimous decision, this court finds him guilty and convicts him accordingly,” Justice Aryeetey ruled before sentencing Appiah to life imprisonment.
The jury was subsequently discharged.

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