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The late Professor Emmanuel Yaw Benneh
Police are searching for two other suspects involved in the murder of the University of Ghana law professor, Professor Emmanuel Yaw Benneh, who was allegedly murdered in cold blood at his residence in Adjiriganor, Accra.
Inspector Ebenezer Teye-Okuffo told the Kaneshie District Court that “two of the defendants are at large and we are making efforts to have them arrested.”
Therefore, Inspector Teye-Okuffo prayed to the court to grant them a postponement to allow the police to expedite their investigation into the matter.
Inspector Teye-Okuffo said this when James Nana Womba, a confessed suspect, appeared in Kaneshie district court.
However, Womba’s accomplice, Opambour Agya Badu Nkansah, was absent from the court. The prosecution said that Nkansah was unwell and noted that Nkansah was receiving treatment at the hospital.
Inspector Teye Okuffo vehemently opposed the granting of bail to the defendants saying that “although all crimes are subject to bail, the granting of bail is subject to the discretion of the court.”
The prosecution held that if the defendants were released on bail, they would hamper police investigations and prayed to the court to keep the defendants behind bars.
This, he said, would allow the police to carry out large-scale investigations and bring the accused to the appropriate court.
He drew the Court’s attention to the fact that the defendants were in custody on the murder charge and two other key suspects were at large.
Mr. Cornelius Stephen Sackey, who took up the report from Mr. George Asamani, Womba and Nkansah’s attorney, prayed to the Court to admit his clients on bail.
According to Mr. Sackey, the defendants had a fixed address and the prosecution knew where they resided.
Mr. Sackey maintained that the defendant would not interfere in any way with the investigations when he was released on bail.
The defense lawyer asked why the police charged the defendants with murder if they claimed they had not completed the investigations.
He said his clients had people of good repute who would back them up.
The Court, chaired by Ms. Ama Adomako Kwakye in its ruling, rejected the defendants’ request for bail.
The Court said that their jurisdiction was limited to prosecution procedures and that they could go to the High Court to request bail.
Therefore, he placed the suspects in police custody to reappear on October 26.
The Court ordered the prosecution to accelerate its investigations into the matter, considering the nature of the crime.
James Nana Womba claimed that he acted alongside Ashiaman resident Opambour Agya Badu Nkansah and two others, currently at large.
Womba and Badu face charges of conspiracy to commit a crime, including murder and murder.
The Court has preserved its reasons.
The facts narrated by Inspector Teye-Okuffo are that Akosua Benneh, the elder sister of the deceased, is the complainant, while Womba is a domestic employee of the late Prof Benneh in Adjiriganor, near East Legon, Accra.
The prosecution said that on September 13 this year, the 66-year-old professor’s body was found in a pool of blood in a supine position with his hand and legs tied.
He said that the deceased had been taken from his terrace to his bedroom and had multiple cuts on his body with a piece of carpet in his mouth, while his body was in a state of decomposition.
The prosecution said the professor’s body had been deposited in the morgue of the Accra Police Hospital.
He said that on September 13 this year, investigations led to the arrest of Womba, who confessed to the crime and named Badu and others as his accomplices.
On September 21 of this year, an autopsy performed by a certain Dr. Owusu Afriyie, a pathologist at the Police Hospital, revealed that the cause of death included strangulation and alleged homicide.
Police intelligence led to Badu’s arrest in Ashiaman while efforts are under way to arrest the other accomplices.
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