The presiding judge and the two suspects involved in the gruesome murder of 10-year-old Ishmael Mensah failed to appear in court today, June 2, 2021.

Ishmael was murdered by two teenagers, Felix Nyarko,16 and Nicholas Kene, 18 who have been handed over to the police to assist in investigations. The sad incident happened at Kasoa Lamptey Mills in the Awutu Senya East Municipality in the Central Region on April 3, 2021.

The suspects, giving the rationale behind their actions, told the police a fetish priest in the Volta Region had asked them to bring a body part for money. According to the suspects, they had initially wanted to kidnap the boy, demand ¢5,000 ransom from his family before going ahead to kill him and get the needed body part for the spiritualist.

The two, per the police charge sheet, admitted that they killed the 10-year-old Ishmael by hitting a club against his neck.

The family’s spokesperson, Samed Akalilu, in an interaction with the press revealed that today is the second time the presiding judge has been absent without explanation.

According to Mr Akalilu, the family is disappointed about the pace of the trial and urged the Attorney-General (A-G) to attach some importance to the case to ensure justice is served.

“We have been brooding over these uncertainties, disappointment and systemic failures, as I speak, from here we are going to have a family meeting and do a lot of introspections.

“We feel that there’s something untold, there’s something mystical that the family does not understand. And so for us the mere fact that the case is being delayed just because the Attorney General (AG) is not advising… the police have told us that advice from the AG is not available, to the extent that the judge is not available and for about 4 weeks now no judge has been able to move the case further,” he added.

Mr Akalilu further added that the family will make sure justice is served.

“We are going to make sure that the various option that is available to us the family is going to meet. Justice delayed is justice denied as others also say”.