Former Footballer Richard Appiah Jailed For Life After Murdering 2 kids in Bono Region
- Former footballer Richard Appiah has been found guilty of the 2021 murder of two teenagers in Abesim
- The investigation revealed gruesome details, including remains stored in a fridge and bloodstained weapons
- Appiah was a registered player with Division 2 side Sunyani Kumapim FC and also worked as a sports pundit
The jury in the trial of Richard Appiah, the former footballer who killed two teenagers in Abesim in the Bono Region and stored the remains of one in a fridge, has returned a unanimous verdict of guilty of murder.
Appiah murdered his stepbrother alongside the two children, aged between 12 and 15 years.
Source: UGC
Appiah, who was 28 at the time of the offence, has been standing trial at the High Court since 2024, while committal proceedings began at the District Court in 2021.
Graphic Online showed him being excorted from court after the sentencing.
Following reports to the police on August 20, 2021, police officers discovered the dismembered body of one of the victims stored in a fridge.
Two other bodies were found in separate rooms in Appiah’s residence.
Further investigations led police to a cocoa farm in Abesim, where they unearthed intestines believed to belong to one of the victims.
Two bloodstained machetes were also retrieved from the scene.
Insanity defence from Richard Apiah
Appiah's lawyer pushed for his client to be declared insane. The lawyer argued that Appiah did not understand or appreciate the nature and natural consequences of his actions at the time of the offence due to a mental illness.
He cited instances where Appiah, before the murders, behaved strangely and suffered from schizophrenia.
The lawyer also said that at the time the offence took place, Appiah was hallucinating, leading to the urge to commit the murders.
However, the prosecution, led by Assistant State Attorney Nana Ama Adinkra, disagreed with the defence and argued that Appiah was lucid when he committed the offence and was therefore liable for his actions.
About the Abesim killings
Appiah was a registered player with Division 2 side Sunyani Kumapim FC at the time of the killings.
According to Ghana Sports Online, the owner of Kumapim FC admitted that Appiah was part of the team's playing body in an interview with Sunyani-based radio station, Ark FM.
Read also
Special prosecutor sinks teeth into new multimillion-cedi corruption scheme involving zoomi
He was also said to be a sports pundit and commentator for the local radio stations in the area.
Source: Getty Images
At the time of the murders, 12-year-old Louis Agyemang had gone missing after he had gone to the park to play football, but did not return home as of 10 pm.
His absence got his father, 56-year-old Thomas Adjei, worried and sparked a search.
One of Louis' friends told Adjei that he had seen Louis leave the park with Appiah. They were stepbrothers.
Policeman who murdered lover sentenced to life in prison
YEN.com.gh reported that one Inspector Ahmed Twumasi, the police officer who was charged with murdering his girlfriend, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Asokore Mampong District Court in the Ashanti Region.
Twumasi shot and killed his girlfriend, Victoria Dapaah, also known as Maa Adwoa, at Adum, in Kumasi, on April 20, 2023.
Source: YEN.com.gh
