Judge questions 1-year delay in prosecuting man who set 11-year-old boy ablaze

His Lordship Osman Abdul Hakim, the presiding judge sitting on the case in which an 11-year-old boy was set ablaze by a 29-year-old mason for allegedly peeping at a woman in the bathroom, has criticised the prosecutors for not arraigning the suspect earlier after the incident occurred in 2017.

Class91.3FM’s Upper East Regional correspondent, William Jalulah, who first broke the heart-wrenching story, was at the Bolgatanga District Court on Friday, 8 February 2019 for the first hearing and reported that the judge queried the prosecutor about why the case was not brought to the court’s attention since the incident occurred over a year ago, until after Class News first broke it.

The judge, however, granted the suspect a GHS 20,000 bail with four sureties and two landed properties. He has to reappear in court on 26 February 2019.

The suspect, Nsobila John, was in court with his lawyer who sought bail for him with the explanation that the suspect was not a flight risk.

The lawyer added that the suspect has been cooperating with the police since the investigations began and will appear before the court whenever he was needed.

The Prosecutor, Chief Inspector Mohammed Adnan, prayed the court to remand the suspect in police custody because some people had threatened his life after the incident was brought to the limelight.

The judge, however, granted the bail application.



Background

Young Maxwell Ayinbisa is still nursing his wounds of over one-year-old, which he sustained after the suspect doused him with petrol and set him ablaze for allegedly peeping at a woman in a bathroom.

On 24 November 2017, Ayinbisa and two of his friends were sent to buy petrol from a fuel station.

According to Ayinbisa, on their way from the errand, a man accused him and his friends of peeping at a woman in a bathroom.

The little boy said his friends fled and left him behind. He was grabbed by his accuser, Nsobila John, who wrenched the gallon of petrol from him, doused him with the fuel and struck a match at him.

When Class News’ William Jalulah visited the family of the victim at Pobaga, a suburb of Bolgatanga in the region, he met a suffering boy whose sore-riddled head, torso and hands were in band-aids.

The foul odour from his puss-filled sores was unbearable.

The father of the victim, Mustahpa Rahamani told Class News that the suspect, after taking care of the initial medical bills of the boy, abandoned him.

The Bolgatanga Municipal Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Samuel Punobyin told Jalulah that the families of the victim and the suspect had reached an agreement to settle the matter out of court.

He noted that the suspect agreed to foot all medical expenses before he was granted bail.