‘He Knew What He Was Doing’: The Verdict in the Abesim Child Murders Case
There was a heavy sense of finality in an Accra High Court as footballer Richard Appiah learned his fate. Found guilty of the brutal murders of two young boys in the quiet town of Abesim, the 31-year-old was handed a life sentence for his crimes.
The decision, delivered by Justice Ruby Aryeetey, came after a seven-member jury took just a short time to reach a unanimous verdict: guilty on both counts of murder.
The courtroom, a place of tense silence, held its breath as the foreman of the jury read the decision. It was the end of a long and harrowing legal journey for the families of the victims, two boys, just 12 and 15 years old, whose lives were cut short in August 2021 in a crime that sent shockwaves through the nation.
The central drama of the trial wasn’t whether Appiah committed the act, but the state of his mind when he did it.
His lawyer, Faustinus Yirilabuo, made a heartfelt plea to the jury. He didn’t deny his client’s involvement. Instead, he painted a tragic picture of a young man battling severe mental illness.
He argued that Appiah was “guilty but insane,” describing a man who, in the grip of schizophrenia, had lost touch with reality.
The court heard disturbing accounts of Appiah eating his own faeces and washing his face with urine in the days before the killings.
His defense was that a spirit had commanded him to commit the act, threatening him with death if he refused.
“He did not understand the nature of his actions,” his lawyer implored, asking for a verdict based on mercy and an understanding of his client’s fractured mind.
But the prosecution, led by Assistant State Attorney Nana Ama Adinkra, painted a starkly different picture. To them, Appiah was not a man possessed, but a calculating killer who knew exactly what he was doing.
“How could a man in a psychotic state methodically dispose of evidence?” Ms. Adinkra asked the jury, her voice firm.
She pointed to the chilling details of the crime scene: the body of one boy found stuffed in a refrigerator, the other’s remains scattered, and the victims’ intestines later discovered on a cocoa farm.
Appiah, she argued, had burned the boys’ clothes in a clear attempt to cover his tracks.
“Why else would he burn their clothes if he wasn’t trying to hide the evidence?”
The prosecution leaned on expert testimony to dismantle the insanity plea, arguing that schizophrenia does not inherently lead to violence and that Appiah was not in the throes of an active psychotic episode when he committed the murders.
His actions, they said, were deliberate, born of malice, and driven by a clear intent to kill. He was lucid, and he was responsible.
Outside the courthouse, the raw emotions of the tragedy came to the fore. Yeboah Asuamah, the father of the two slain boys, struggled to contain his relief.
For him, the life sentence was a measure of justice, a validation of his sons’ short lives. He expressed his deep gratitude to the police and the Attorney General’s office for their relentless pursuit of the case.
“I am satisfied,” he said, his voice heavy with grief but firm with resolve.
But the legal battle may not be over. Theophilus Dzimegah, lead counsel for Appiah, immediately signalled his intention to fight the verdict.
He told journalists he would be filing an appeal, setting the stage for a higher court to re-examine the complex and tragic case of the footballer from Abesim.