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The Tema TDC Magistrate Court has refused an application for bail for the driver and house help of Mrs Josephine Tandoh Asante, the murdered Marketing and Public Relations Officer for the Tema Port.

The court, presided over by Mrs Akosua Agyepong, said even though the Supreme Court had stated that all offences were bailable, her court does not have the jurisdiction to grant bail in a murder case and therefore ordered the lawyers of the two accused persons to apply for it at the appropriate court.

Mr Baba Jamal and Mr Isaac Eshun, counsels for Christain Agyei (first accused person), house help and Amos Apraku (second accused person) the driver, respectively, in their submissions, said their clients deserved to be bailed in accordance with the laws of Ghana.

Mr Jamal noted that Agyei was in a state of shock and would cooperate with the Police to solve the murder.

Mr Eshun, on his part, indicated that the facts as presented to the court did not support the charge of murder levelled against Apraku and as such the state was yet to establish a” prima facie” against him adding that the accused was the one who reported the incident to the Police and therefore had no reason to jump bail.

Prior to the bail application, the court strike out the separate murder charges against the two accused persons and subsequently discharged them.

They were however immediately re-arrested and put before the court with a charge of murder but their plea was not taken.

Inspector Beatrice Ayeh, prosecuting, told the court that the deceased attended a party organized by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) on January 12, 2019 which ended at about 02:30 hours of January 13.

She added that Apraku drove the deceased in her Mercedes Benz saloon car but alighted at Mitchel Camp leaving Mrs Asante to drive herself to the house on block E of EMEF Estate where she lived with her 12-year old son, husband and the house help.

The facts indicated that at about 03:30 hours, the deceased’s son was awoken by an unusual scream from his mother's room and therefore went to check but met Agyei at the hall.

Prosecution added that the house help informed the deceased’s son that he saw a male figure wearing a pair of jeans and black top running out of the house.

The boy who was scared slept at the boy’s quarters with the first accused, according to the prosecutor.

She added that at about 08:30 hours, when the first accused person and the deceased’s son woke up, they realized that Mrs Asante was yet to come out which was very unusual of her.

Her son, who was said to have peeped into her room and saw her in a pool of blood rushed to inform the house help and subsequently the driver who rushed to the place holding the keys to the house.

The bunch of keys included that of the room of the deceased which could not be found earlier, but had been found by the driver outside the house.

They opened the door and found her in a supine position in a pool of blood which led the driver to lodge a complaint with the Police.

The facts had it that while investigations were ongoing in the house, the house help was found burying a consignment wrapped in a polythene bag which was found to contain an amount of GHs 430 and the deceased’s wrist watch. The two were subsequently arrested.

Prosecution added that on January 16, 2019, a post mortem by Chief Superintendent Dr Osei Owusu Afriyie,a pathologist at the Police Hospital, revealed that Mrs Asante died of as a result of strangulation hence unnatural death.

The case was adjourned to February 28, 2019.