Stephen Yeboah, 47, a drinking bar operator, and his concubine, Yaa Gyamfuah, are standing trial for conspiracy to commit murder and murder.

 

Their plea was not taken and were remanded in police custody to reappear on March 20, 2015, while the docket has been forwarded to the Attorney-General’s (A-G’s) Department for advice.

 

The two are suspected to have conspired and killed 43-year-old Akua Afriyie, wife of Yeboah, on the night of December 10, 2014.

 

Although Yeboah was the first to report the death of his wife to the police, a post-mortem  conducted on the body revealed that Afriyie died of unnatural causes for which reason the police arrested the lovers.

 

Application for bail

 

Counsel for the accused, Mr Kwame Owusu Sekyere, appealed to the court to grant his clients bail as the prosecution was unduly delaying the case.

 

He said his clients deserved to be released on bail since the prosecution “does not know when the A-G’s advice will come for the trial to begin.”

 

However, the presiding judge, Mr Abbey denied them bail, explaining that there was no evidence that the prosecution was delaying the case.

 

“Besides, the docket was forwarded to the A-G just on February 10 and it is too early to expect the advice. The bail application is refused,” he said. 

 

Facts

 

Presenting the facts of the case, the prosecutor, Inspector Emmanuel Appiah-Kubi, said Afriyie and the accused persons lived together in the same house at Aboaso-Abuakwa in the Atwima Nwabiagya District.

 

He said Afriyie and Yeboah lived in the same room, while Gyamfuah occupied an adjoining room in the same house.

 

According to the prosecutor, on December 11, last year, Yeboah reported to the police that he had found his wife Afriyie dead in their bedroom after spending the night with Gyamfuah.

 

He said Yeboah explained that he had spent the night with his second wife and around 4 a.m., he woke up and headed to the room he shared with Afriyie in order  to get ready for work.

 

However, Yeboah said when he knocked on the door there was no response from her.

 

According to the prosecutor, Yeboah said he thought Afriyie refused to open the door either because of the many quarrels they had had or because he spent the night with Gyamfuah.

 

 Yeboah decided, therefore,  to seek the help of a carpenter to break the door open, the prosecutor said.

 

Inspector Appiah-Kubi said the carpenter broke the lock at around 6:30 a.m. only for him (Yeboah) to realise that his wife was dead.

 

Post-mortem

 

According to the report on the post-mortem conducted by Dr Paul Poku Sampene Osei of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Afriyie’s death was caused by severe asphyxia (lack of oxygen), cerebral oedema (excess water in the cavities or tissues of the body) and assault. 

 

Accordingly, he concluded that Afriyie did not die of a natural cause.