General News of Wednesday, 17 February 2016

Source: Daily Guide

I stabbed JB Danquah three times – Alleged killer

Daniel Asiedu, suspected killer of Abuakwa North MP Daniel Asiedu, suspected killer of Abuakwa North MP

The 19-year-old school dropout accused of stabbing to death Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North Constituency of the Eastern Region, has said he stabbed the lawmaker three times.

Daniel Asiedu, the prime suspected, claimed that he entered the home armed with a knife, a catapult and a cutter.

He said his intention was not to kill the MP and that he stabbed him in the chest, his ribs and inflicted a fatal wound on his neck.

The MP, after shouting for help, which never came, bled to death in his bedroom, the police prosecutor told a packed magistrate court in Accra yesterday.

Daniel Asiedu, aka Sexy Don Don, yesterday told the Accra Central District Court that he went to the residence of the late MP to steal and not to kill.

The suspect had earlier told the police that he was contracted to kill the MP for a prize of GH¢2,000, part of which he used to buy shoes.

With head bowed throughout the session in the court presided over by Stephen Owusu, Sexy Don Don, speaking in Twi, said that he knew he had committed a crime.

Confession

Drawing the attention of the judge while in the dock by raising his hand, Asiedu, who was without a lawyer, said: “I want to say something. I want to tell the court how the thing happened…I know I am wrong; I went to steal. I beg…”

But the trial judge told the accused to wait if he had anything to say.

Packed Court

The accused, dressed in a white round-neck T-shirt over an ash Adidas pair of trousers, was ushered into the court by stern-looking gun-wielding police officers and officials from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

Curious spectators could not help peeping through the window of the court to catch a glimpse of the supposed killer, who sat with his head bowed, probably pondering over his fate.

Charged with murder contrary to Section 46 of Act 29/60, the plea of the accused was not taken.

The prosecution, led by Superintendent Francis Baah, said that Sexy Don Don on February 9, this year, at about 1am at Shiashie, a suburb of Accra, intentionally and unlawfully caused the death of the MP.

The accused has been remanded into police custody until March 1, 2016.

Facts

Supt Baah said Mr JB Danquah, until his death, lived with his family in a one-storey building at Shiashie while the accused also lived with his girlfriend at Agbogbloshie, Accra.

He stated that on February 8 at about 11:48pm the MP came home in his private car driven by his driver, one Samuel Berkoe Sarkodie.

Supt Baah said the late MP retired to bed, adding that at about 1am Sexy Don Don, who was armed with a catapult, a cutter and a sharp knife, entered the house of the legislator through the iron fence on the blind side of the security man who was fast asleep.

The prosecutor said the accused picked a ladder in the house and climbed to the porch of the top floor and entered the bedroom of the MP.

Murder

He said when the accused began searching the room, the MP woke up and held Asiedu but he (accused) stabbed him on the right chest above the breast.

The “deceased held the knife and shouted for help but no one came. The suspect pulled the knife though the deceased’s hands, creating a deep cut in his palm,” the senior police officer said.

The prosecutor stated further that the MP, who was bleeding profusely, fell by his bed helplessly and the accused again stabbed him on the right chest below the breast and plunged the knife further into his neck.

“Suspect realising that the deceased was almost dead, left him and took away his two iphones and a tablet. Suspect managed to descend from the top to the back of the house, climbed one of the polytanks in the house and jumped over the electric fence into the adjoining house and escaped,” Superintendent Francis Baah averred.

Admission

Supt Baah pointed out that investigations led to the arrest of the accused who confessed to the crime, stating that he went there to steal but in the process the deceased woke up and held him.