Court declares MP’s suspected killer to be of sound mind
An Accra District Magistrate Court hearing the case of Daniel Asiedu, the alleged killer of Mr Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu, the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, says it believes Asiedu has a sound mind.
According to the court, it was struggling to see Aseidu as someone with unsound mind.
The Court presided over by Mr Stephen Owusu said this when it turned down for the second time a request made by Asiedu’s Counsel to subject him to psychiatric examination.
It said “the Court has not found the reasons yet that the accused person is not of sound mind.”
The Court ordered Asiedu to remain in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to reappear on April 5.
Asiedu, who has been charged with murder, is said to have killed Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu, the NPP MP for Abuakwa North in the Eastern Region, at his residence in Shiashie, near East Legon in Accra, on February 8.
His plea has been reserved.
When the court drew Asiedu’s attention to the good work being carried out by his counsel and what he would tell his counsel, Asiedu said: “I pray that God will grant him (defence counsel) his heart ‘s desires.”
Defence Attorney Mr Augustine Obuor repeated his plea to the Court to allow Asiedu undergo Psychiatric examination as that was going to help them put up their defence.
“I will be grateful to get a psychiatric report to know his state of mind. Prosecution will not lose anything. It would rather guide the court. After having conference with him this morning, I still think Asiedu should undergo psychiatric examination.”
Mr Obuor further prayed the Court to send his client to the Nsawam Medium Security Prison instead of the BNI cells.
According to Mr Obuor, Asiedu’s rights were being curtailed in BNI cells as his counsel was not involved when his client was being interrogated.
Superintendent of Police Francis Baah said the Police would never disturb Asiedu’s life while in BNI custody adding that the Police had reason for keeping him. He explained that Asiedu was being kept in BNI cells for the sake of accessibility and proximity.
Reacting to the defence counsel’s plea to refer Asiedu for a psychiatric examination, Supt. Baah said he “leaves that entirely to the court.”
According to the prosecutor, the Police had given the accused person access to his father and would repeat same for his pregnant girlfriend who Asiedu had requested to see.
Superintendent Francis Baah said the deceased, J.B. Danquah-Adu, lived with his family in a one storey building at Shiashie, while Asiedu, a school dropout, lived with his girlfriend at Agbogloshie in Accra.
On February 8, this year, at about 1140 hrs, the deceased went to his house with his driver Samuel Berko Sarkodie, he said.
The driver after dropping the deceased handed over the car keys to him (the deceased) and left for his residence at Kasoa.
At about 0100 hrs, however, Asiedu armed himself with a catapult, a sharp cutlass and a cutter, and on the blind side of the MP’s security man, entered the residence where he picked up a ladder and entered the top floor of the house, where the deceased was sleeping, whilst the security man at post was also fast asleep.
On entering the deceased’s room, the deceased woke up from his sleep and held Asiedu.
The Prosecution said Asiedu stabbed the deceased above his breast on his left side, so the deceased then held the knife of Asiedu and shouted for help.
Superintendent Baah said the deceased, subsequently, sustained deep cuts in his hands and became unconscious.
While the deceased was bleeding profusely, Asiedu stabbed him again below the breast on his right side and neck and left him to his fate.
The accused then took away two iPhones and a tablet of the deceased, and managed to descend from the top to the back of the house and climbed one of the polytanks in the house, skipped the electric fence of the house into an adjoining house and escaped.
The Prosecution said the security man in the house heard the shouts of the deceased for help and he alerted other security men in the area for assistance but no one came to his aid.
Superintendent Baah said some neighbours, however, got in touch with the Police emergency number but when the Police arrived, the MP had passed on and the body was sent to the Police Hospital.
The prosecutor said investigations led to the arrest of the accused who confessed to the crime.
The Exhibits retrieved from the accused, among other things, have been forwarded to the Police Forensic Laboratory for analysis.
Superintendent Baah said the accused also sustained injuries on his left finger and the last finger of his right hand.
Source: GNA