Court issues bench warrant for Level 100 student's arrest over boyfriend's murder

The High Court in Accra has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of 23-year-old Safina Mohammed, a Level 100 Biological Sciences student who has been charged with the alleged murder of her boyfriend for failing to appear in court.

Known as Safina Diamond, she has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Frank Osei, her Ghanaian boyfriend who lived in Canada. Safina is currently out on bail.

When the matter was called on Wednesday, October 23, the accused and her lawyers were not present in court. A bench warrant for her arrest was issued by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, a Justice of the Court of Appeal who also serves as a High Court judge.

“We were supposed to have a date with the jury and the lawyers today (October 23) for the trial to commence this morning,” Justice Marfo said. “Accidentally, the accused person and her lawyers are absent without any reasonable cause. A bench warrant is hereby issued for her arrest,” the court ordered.

In court was Senior State Attorney Nana Ama Adinkra. The jury that had been empaneled in prior legal years has been released, and a new panel will be formed in accordance with current guidelines, according to Murtala Inusah, the Legal Affairs Correspondent for the EIB Network.

In her address to the jury on Thursday, March 7, the Senior State Attorney announced plans to call nine witnesses, including another boyfriend of the accused and five police officers, to support their case. She stated that the prosecution would establish that Frank Osei is deceased, that his death resulted from unlawful harm, and that this harm was intentionally inflicted by the accused.

The Senior State Attorney also revealed that the knife identified as the murder weapon, which bore blood stains, was confirmed through DNA analysis to belong to the deceased. A DNA test conducted on July 29, 2022, indicated that the cause of death was unnatural. Medical professionals reported that the deceased’s body was in the early stages of decomposition and concluded that he likely died at least 72 hours prior.

Defense lawyer Samuel Alesu-Dordzi urged the jury to uphold the principles of fairness, objectivity, and justice. He expressed surprise at the prosecution’s allegations that his client and the deceased were engaged in “kinky sex,” urging the jury to consider both sides of the story before reaching a verdict. He also encouraged them to disregard social media commentary surrounding the case.

According to the prosecution, on Sunday, July 24, 2022, Osei, who was on vacation in Ghana, visited his fiancée Safina at her home in Ashaley Botwe School Junction and decided to spend the night with her. That night, Safina, along with accomplices yet to be apprehended, allegedly stabbed Osei with a knife and strangled him.

The prosecution claims that Safina and her accomplices cleaned the blood from the floor while Osei’s body remained in the room for 24 hours. They allege that the body was dragged down the staircase from the first floor and dumped at the gate of the house, where Osei had parked his Toyota Tundra.

Safina allegedly called the police, claiming that her boyfriend had died in her room. Upon arrival, law enforcement discovered Osei’s body lying at the gate of Safina’s house, leading to her arrest for further investigation.

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