The Kaneshie District Court has ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Richard Appiah, the accused in the infamous Abesim killings. This was based on the advice of the Attorney General.

29-year-old Richard Appiah was arrested in October 2021 for the alleged killing of 12 and 15-year-olds, Louis Agyemang and Stephen Sarpong in Sunyani’s suburb of Abesim, in the Bono Region.

State Prosecutor, Chief Inspector Lawrence Kofi Anane told Magistrate Ama Adomako Kwakye on Wednesday that the Attorney General’s advice recommended the evaluation for the accused.

The state prosecutor added that the accused is to be charged with murder based on the advice of the Attorney General.

Appiah has thus been committed to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital for examination. The case has been adjourned to November 22, 2022.

Background

Appiah is alleged to have murdered his stepbrother and two others, aged between 12 and 15 years.

After reports were made to the police on August 20, 2021, they found one of the deceased cut into pieces in a fridge, while two other deceased persons were found in other rooms in Richard Appiah’s home.

Police later discovered intestines believed to belong to one of the victims buried in a cocoa farm at Abesim.

Police later exhumed the intestines pending analysis and forensic examination. Two cutlasses with bloodstains were also retrieved from the scene. The identity of the third victim who was cut into pieces is yet to be identified.

The suspect was arrested in Abesim after a relative of one of the victims reported to the Sunyani Police about his missing son on August 20, 2021.