Ksi Hotel killing: Judge rebukes police for slow pace of investigations

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Police prosecutors suffered an embarrassing dressing down at the Asokwa District Court 3, after they were rebuked by the judge presiding over the Kumasi hotel killing case.

According to Her Worship Rosemarie Afua Asante, due to the continuous incarceration of the accused persons and slow investigations, the case has not been able to make progress as expected.

Her outburst follows police Prosecutor Chief Superintendent Kofi Blagodzi’s appeal in court for another adjournment.

The presiding judge was also unhappy the prosecutors had not brought the accused persons to court on time.

Although sitting was to commence by 9:00am, the accused persons were not brought to the court by the police as of 10:30am.

Prosecution, however, explained to the court that the adjournment is to allow the Attorney General’s Department to also direct the commencement of committal process against the couple, Edwin Awuku and Belinda Awuku.

Chief Superintendent Blagodzi told the court that the request is on the instruction of Attorney General.

“We pray the accused persons be remanded in prison custody for further investigations to continue”, Prosecution requested, while assuring that they will appear before the court on time.

But while granting the plea for adjournment, the judge expressed worry at the continuous delay of the case.

“This is a matter of public interest and the complainant is seeking justice…” the judge fumed.

The accused persons were consequently remanded into prison custody and will reappear on Thursday, March 19, 2020.

Background

Edwin Awuku and Belinda Awuku are facing the court over the killing of 46-year-old, Comfort Owusu Afriyie, a restaurant operator at Asafo, in Kumasi.

Afriyie was last seen on New Year’s Eve but was confirmed dead the following morning at the Cedar Crescent Hotel in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital.

She was lodging in one of the hotel rooms with Edwin Awuku, 42, on January 2, 2020 when the incident occurred at about 1am local time.

An earlier police report sighted by Dailymailgh.com suggested that the suspect and the deceased were both attacked in an armed robbery case while in their hotel room on that fateful day.

Preliminary investigations have, however, revealed that the deceased was shot and killed by her boyfriend, police in the Ashanti Region said in a statement on Tuesday, January 7.

Police have, however, denied an incident of armed robbery attack in the hotel as widely reported.

The victim has since been buried.

By Jonathan Ofori, Daily Mail GH | Email: Joevica18@gmail.com