An Accra High Court has ordered the court registrar to provide defence counsel for Safina Mohammed Adizatu, who is on trial for allegedly murdering her Canadian boyfriend, with the jury list in the case.
According to the court, the provision of the list should be done before the next adjourned date, February 27, 2024, and the defence counsel was ordered to follow up on that.
The court gave the order after the defense counsel for Safina Mohammed Adizatu requested for the list of the jurors.
According to Mr Samuel Alesu-Dordzi, defence counsel, the basis for his request was Act 30, which requires that an accused person mount a challenge to certain jurors for a cause.
“The Act sets out persons who qualify and those who do not qualify to act as jurors. It is our contention that the accused person is unable to exercise these challenges which is available to her under the law without prior disclosure of the list of the potential jurors before empaneling takes place.”
At the next sitting, the court is expected to empanel a seven-member jury for trial to commence. Safina is expected to plead to the charge of murder preferred against her by the state.
Safina Mohammed Adizatu is before the High Court for her alleged involvement in the murder of her Canadian boyfriend at Ashaley Botwe in July 2022.
In August 2023, an Adentan District Court committed her to stand trial at the High Court for the murder of Frank Kofi Osei, her boyfriend and a Ghanaian resident in Canada.
Frank was gruesomely murdered when he visited Safina at her residence at Ashalley Botwe School Junction in Accra. Safina aka Safina Diamond has been granted GHC 500,000 bail
She has been ordered by the court to be reporting to the Ghana Police Service (Homicide Unit).
Meanwhile Safina during the committal proceedings at the lower court declared her innocence.
The state is expected to call nine witnesses including Michael Fiifi Ampofo Arku who was arrested as an accomplice but later released on the recommendation of the Attorney General.
The case of the prosecution is that on Sunday July 24, 2022, Frank Osei who was on vacation in Ghana, visited Safina, at Ashalley Botwe School Junction and decided to spend the night with her.
The prosecution said that at night, Safina, Arku and other accomplices yet to be arrested, allegedly stabbed Osei with a knife and strangled him.
It said Safina and her accomplices allegedly cleaned Osei’s Blood from the floor while the body was in the room for 24 hours.
The prosecution said Osei’s body was carried from the first floor of the Storey building down the staircase and dumped at the gate of the house where the deceased had parked his Toyota Tundra truck.
Safina allegedly called the police and claimed that her boyfriend who visited her had died in her room.
When the police got there, they found Osei’s body at the gate of Safina’s house and had her arrested.
GNA
