The Magistrate, Kwaku Ansah, in committing the suspects, said he believed the prosecution had put forward enough evidence to prove their case against them.

[contextly_sidebar id=”RoFiQyo5DBfGPBpmX5Gr3Byioxr7Ggux”]The prosecution made the court aware of its intention to call fifteen witnesses, and present 52 different pieces of evidence as part of their case when the trial begins at the High Court.

The fourteen suspects, which include the Assembly Member of the area, were part of 52 people who were brought to the Court when the case commenced. After investigations by the police, 38 of the initial suspects were discharged by the court.

The deceased, Major Maxwell Adam Mahama, was lynched with parts of his body burnt by some residents of Denkyira-Obuasi in the Upper West Denkyira District of the Central Region.

According to the prosecution, he was attacked and lynched on suspicion of being an armed robber, while on his daily jogging routine on May 29, 2017, at Denkyira Obuasi.

The late military officer was in the community as part of an anti-illegal mining operation.

–

By: Fred Djabanor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Maj. Mahama killing: Full trial of 14 suspects set for Feb. 15 appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Some of the victims from the village of Kavumu were just 18 months old.

The men allegedly targeted young girls between 2013 and 2016 because a spiritual adviser told them that the blood of virgins would grant them supernatural protection.

The alleged militia leader, Frederic Batumike, a provincial legislator, and the other defendants deny the charges.

Rights groups hope the trial will help to end a culture of rape as a tool of war in DR Congo.

“The start of the trial is a strong signal in the fight against impunity,” Jean Chrysostome Kijana, an activist representing the victims, told Reuters news agency.

Proceedings started 10 hours late and lasted only 20 minutes on Thursday, during which time the defendants’ names were read aloud, according to Reuters.

Advocacy groups have told Reuters that the case has been particularly difficult to investigate because the victims were so young.

“Their families were often asleep when the alleged rapes occurred,” Reuters reports.

Villagers believed a magic powder was being used to induce sleep, investigative journalist Lauren Wolfe told BBC Newsday:

“I thought… Could they [the attackers] be using some kind of herbal anaesthetic? It actually turned out to be true. They were.”

She said the militiamen had been illegally squatting on an “extremely fertile” plantation previously owned by a German botanist who was murdered in 2012.

Following more than 20 years of conflict, much of eastern DR Congo is under the control of various militia groups.

The Democratic Republic of Congo was labelled “the rape capital of the world” by Margot Wallstrom, the former UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict.

Writing in The Guardian, Wolfe says that two years ago “one UN official resigned out of frustration at the UN’s continued failure to halt the atrocities” in Kavumu.

–

Source: BBC

The post DR Congo’s Kavumu child rape trial opens appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The decision follows the submission of a comprehensive medical report on the mental and physical state of the accused.

Gregory Afoko has reportedly been ill since December 2016, causing the case to delay due to his supposed ill-health.

[contextly_sidebar id=”eoT5Q1CpuihMMP7vUO80AgiWazpttVwM”]Gregory Afoko is on trial on the charges of conspiracy to commit crime and murder of the late Mr. Adams Mahama, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Upper East Regional Chairman.

He is accused of attacking the former NPP Chairman with acid, which led to his death. He has however pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In February 2017, an Accra District Court committed Afoko to stand trial at the High Court.

The State during the committal proceedings, tendered 17 exhibits in respect of the trial, which included Afoko’s caution and charge statements as well as a post-mortem report of the deceased.

The accused person is a brother to suspended NPP Chairman Paul Afoko. The incident that led to his arrest occurred at a time when supposed factions within the NPP were at each other’s neck.

–

By: Fred Djabanor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Court declares Gregory Afoko ‘healthy’ to face trial appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.