Jury raises concern over accused’s nose mask in murder trial

A murder trial at the Accra High Court was briefly disrupted after a jury requested that an accused person remove her nose mask while in the dock. The jury said Safina Adizatu Mohammed could see the faces of the other jury members, but they could not see her face because of the nose mask. Nana Ama Adinkrah, a Senior State Attorney, indicated that the jury’s concerns were reasonable when the matter was raised during proceedings on Monday.

Safina’s counsel, however, explained that she was wearing the nose mask because she was unwell. The trial judge subsequently directed Safina to remove the nose mask whenever she entered the dock and put it on again afterwards. Safina is standing trial for the alleged murder of her boyfriend, Frank Kofi Osei, a 37-year-old Ghanaian resident in Canada.

She has pleaded not guilty to the charge. At Monday’s sitting, lawyers for the prosecution and the accused persons delivered their opening addresses. The Senior State Attorney told the court that the prosecution would call nine witnesses, including Safina’s former lover and expert witnesses, to support its case.

She said the prosecution would seek to prove the five elements of murder, namely that Frank Kofi Osei died, that his death was caused by unlawful harm, that the unlawful harm was caused by Safina, and that the act was intentional. “The prosecution’s duty was to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt,” Nana Ama Adinkrah said. She told the jury that Osei was a Ghanaian resident in Canada, while Safina was a first-year Biological Science student at the University of Ghana, Legon, at the time of the incident.

The prosecution said the two were in an amorous relationship before Osei’s death. According to the State, on July 26, 2022, at about 0500 hours, police at Lakeside Estate, Ashaley Botwe, received a call from Safina, who reported that she and Osei had a misunderstanding while at her apartment at Ashaley Botwe, School Junction. The prosecution said a struggle ensued during the misunderstanding and Osei died.

A police patrol team was subsequently dispatched to the scene, where officers found an unregistered white Toyota Tundra pickup parked at the entrance of the apartment building. Investigations later established that the vehicle belonged to the deceased. The prosecution said the naked body of Osei was found on the ground near the driver’s door of the pickup in a pron…