Spousal murder case: Court sets June 15 to rule on injunction restraining burial
An Accra High Court has set June 15 to deliver ruling on an interlocutory injunction filed on behalf of Prince Charles Dedjoe, a business executive, accused of spousal murder.
Dedjoe, through his counsel, had filed an interlocutory injunction restraining his deceased wife, Lilian Dedjoe’s family, from burying her.
In the injunction, he said he was in custody and that the family could not proceed with burial and funeral rites of Lilian Dedjoe in his absence.
The High Court, in the absence of the applicant’s lawyer, awarded cost of GH¢500.00 against the applicant.
When sitting resumed at the High Court (General Jurisdiction), Afua Brown Gaise, the Lawyer for Mr Seth Charles Bladzu, the deceased father, said she had just received a letter from Dedjoe’s Counsel praying for a short adjournment based on medical grounds.
Ms Gaise noted that at the Court’s last sitting, Counsel for the applicant requested for an adjournment because they had been served with other applications and they needed more time to respond to them.
She said the letter was calculated to waste the Court’s and everybody’s time and that the applicant’s lawyer had other associates who could move the application.
The Court, after taking a look at the letter, said no medical excuse had been attached to it.
Additionally, it said the June 23 proposed by the applicant’s lawyer was too far as it was minded to hear the injunction application.
Ms Gaise, arguing her case, opposed the application for injunction restraining the defendant from burying the deceased and said the body of the deceased belonged to the extended family and not the nuclear family.
She, therefore, prayed the Court to dismiss the application.
The deceased father, Mr Bladzu, after the alleged gruesome murder of her daughter, Lilian Dedjoe, decided to bury her but he was restrained by an interlocutory injunction filed by Dedjoe’s lawyer.
Dedjoe is before the Madina District Court for allegedly killing his wife by assaulting her with slippers.
The Prosecution’s case is that the complainant is the deceased’s father, a retired administrator, residing at Sogakope in the Volta Region.
The deceased, 43 years, and a trader, was married to Dedjoe and they both lived at East Legon, Accra.
Prosecution said Dedjoe and Lilian’s relationship was marred at a time with some misunderstandings leading to conflicts between them.
On March 1, this year, one such misunderstanding ensued between the two as a result of which Dedjoe assaulted Lilian, who sustained injuries and she went to the Madina Polyclinic for treatment.
Prosecution said when Lilian returned home, her condition deteriorated and on March 6, 2021, she went into a coma and was rushed to the Lister Hospital for medical attention but was pronounced dead on arrival.
A report was made to the Police and Dedjoe was arrested and during investigations, he admitted assaulting the deceased with slippers, prosecution said.
A post-mortem examination is yet to be carried on the deceased.
Dedjoe is facing a charge of murder and he has been remanded into lawful custody. The Madina District Court has preserved his plea and is expected to reappear on June 18.
Source: GNA