“It’s hard for me; one of the suspects even eats at my house” - Father of the victim in Kasoa ritual murder

- The mother of the murdered 10-year-old describes him as "cool, calm, sociable"

- His death came as a shock to the community

- Mensah was murdered by two teenagers for rituals

- His father says they need justice

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Frank Mensah Abdallah, the father of the 10-year-old killed in Kasoa for rituals says he is struggling to cope with the gruesome murder of his child.

The Ofaakor District Magistrate Court remanded into police custody the two teenagers who allegedly killed the 10-year-old, Ishmael Mensah last Saturday at Coca-Cola, near Lamptey Mills in Kasoa.

Felix Nyarko, 15, and Nicholas King, 18 on Saturday, April 3, reportedly lured and killed the 10-year-old.

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Their remand is to allow the police to conduct more investigations into the matter.

“It is hard for me,” the 10-year-old's father stated in a Metro TV interview.

According to him, he knows one of the guys who murdered his son “very well” and that suspect and his child were great friends to the extent that the latter gave the former one of his two bicycles.

“The boy even eats from my house. If someone should tell me this boy will have such intention towards my son, I will never believe it,” he stated.

Abdallah warned that if the suspects are not severely punished, “Kasoa will be chaotic.”

Meanwhile, the police have said that the suspects cannot be jailed for more than 5 years.

There have been calls for harsher punishment to be meted out to the suspects if found culpable.

But the PRO of the Central Regional Police, Irene Oppong said the punishment for the suspects may not be as harsh as expected.

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This is because there is no documentary evidence to prove whether their ages are 16 or 17.

Oppong in an interview with Kumasi-based Hello FM said efforts are underway to get their weighing cards or birth certificates.

“In case we do not get any of these, then the police investigator will have to take them to an expert to determine their ages,” she ended.

Going by the current ages of the suspects, they are juveniles and may not be sentenced to more than five years.

“In the case of a juvenile, the sentence can’t exceed five years. In some instances, they can be sentenced for only three years and that depends on the discretion of the judge,” she stated.

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Source: YEN.com.gh