The Trial Of The Beast…

AARON ANSAH-AGYEMAN

THE TRIAL OF THE BEAST

EPISODE 3

Excerpt from the Daily Witness newspaper.

TEENAGE KILLER CAPTURED

The two-year search for Zak Twum, the notorious teenage killer, ended yesterday when he was captured in a small village called Kyereko.

 

Zak Twum has been on the run since he was declared wanted two years ago. The cold-blooded acts of this young boy chilled the country when it was made public.

Readers would recall that two years ago, the police started the manhunt for Zak Twum after he allegedly stabbed to death twenty-year old Kwadwo Pamfo. Zak Twum, an inmate of the Sasam Orphanage, burnt one wing of the orphanage down in a mad rampage. The fire razed the infirmary to the ground, and as a result a little girl called Maa Afia perished in the fire.

 

He torched the orphanage because the Director of the Orphanage, Mr. Ato Nhyirah, had refused to part with money meant for the upkeep of the orphanage. Zak Twum had also launched a vicious attack on Mr. Nhyirah, resulting in a serious and permanent injury to the Director’s backbone. Mr. Nhyirah is now confined to a wheelchair.

 

Zak disappeared, and although the police launched a massive hunt for him, he managed to elude them. Zak is also accused of raping Miss. Gyamaan Afriyie, daughter of Ayew Afriyie, the Chief Justice of the country.

 

Zak’s exploits terrified and sickened everybody across the country, and many had wished he would be caught to face the law.

Luck finally ran out for the teenage killer yesterday when he was involved in a horrific motor accident. According to Chief Inspector Fiifi Boateng, the young killer stole the car from Mr. Ayivi Kudadze, a businessman, at gunpoint. Mr. Kudadze had cashed three hundred million cedis from a bank, and was entering his car when Zak pounced.

 

He forced Mr. Kudadze into the car, and when they were safely out of the city, he knocked the poor businessman unconscious, and fled with the car and money.

However, some form of divine justice was reaped when the car somersaulted, and Zak was seriously injured in the process.

 

He is currently fighting for his life at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Evidently, a lot of people want him to recover fully, and face the consequences of the horrors he had inflicted on so many people…

***

It took five months for the killer to recover from the terrible injuries he suffered from the accident.

By the time the doctors declared him fit to stand trial, he had become the number one public enemy.

Since his capture, not a single day passed without the newspapers giving him full page treatment. He became the topic of morning shows on radio and television.

 

The public participated in phone-ins to the radio and television stations. Everybody expressed anger and shock at the atrocities of the teenager. Many were those who said he should be sentenced to death without trial.

One television station, Prime View, dedicated thirty minutes each day to him.

 

Their programme brought in doctors, church ministers and other experts to explain what might have gone wrong to make this young Zak so malicious and cold-blooded.

The effect of all this attention was that almost everybody in the country felt strong hatred and disgust for the boy. On many occasions groups of people gathered at the hospital where he was being held to vent their anger and hatred.

 

Their number increased steadily until the hospital authorities felt real concern about their image, and what might happen to the boy.

Finally, the victim had to be moved from the hospital.

Although the exact date had been a secret, people got wind of it, and that day the crowd that gathered was almost uncontrollable. They blocked the streets and screamed at the top of their voices.

 

Most of them wore red clothes and they wielded placards. They hurled rotten fruits and stones at the police van. They refused to let it pass, screaming that the boy be released to face their wrath.

Finally, the police had no option than to fire tear gas to dispel the crowd. It was carried live by all seven television stations in the country, and by over forty radio stations.

Thus, by the end of the fifth month, no one loved Zak.

***

Ayew Afriyie was sitting in his garden.

He was a lean, long-boned man. He was fifty-nine years old.

His thick hair was completely grey. So was his expertly-trimmed moustache.

He was wearing the huge, loose trouser-shorts called jokoto beneath his rich kente cloth.

 

It had drizzled briefly a few minutes earlier. The rain had cooled the hard ground, and the aroma of fresh warm earth was what had drawn Ayew Afriyie to the garden.

On a low table on his right was a bowl containing fresh apples. On another low stool on his left were the morning’s newspapers.

He was the Chief Justice of the country.

 

Seated opposite him was a handsome man of forty-five years old called Tutu Kuntu. He was immaculately dressed in a maroon suit. He was a huge man, and his face was set in a terrible frown as he read one of the newspapers.

Tutu Kuntu was a Court of Appeal judge. He was gripping the newspaper tightly, and his whole expression was one of great anger. The silence was broken by the faint rustle of footsteps on the grassy surface.

 

Both men looked up to see Gyamaan Afriyie walking toward them.

She was seventeen years old, and she was a raving beauty already. She was the only child of the Chief Justice. Her mother had died when she was just six years old, and her father had brought her up as a single parent.

 

Kuntu’s stomach tightened with renewed anger when he saw her. He and his wife had been married for eighteen years now, but they had never had a child. As a result, they all loved Gyamaan as if she were their own child.

She had been a vivacious girl, full of life and energy, but all that had ended the day she was raped by Zak Twum. Now she rarely smiled, and she always looked so lonely and unhappy.

 

That boy is going to pay dearly, Kuntu swore coldly.

Gyamaan kissed Kuntu’s cheek and hugged her father.

He watched as father and daughter conversed quietly, and then she left. The Chief Justice waited until his daughter was out of sight, and then he turned toward his friend.

Kuntu was shocked to see that there were tears in his friend’s eyes.

“Such a darling,” he said softly, “and I couldn’t protect her from that bad young man!”

 

Kuntu reached over and squeezed his friend’s hand.

“Don’t blame yourself, Ayew,” he said gently. “We have to make sure, however, that this animal does not ever hurt another innocent child! If I had my way, Zac Twum would be taken to a firing squad range immediately. But one thing is for sure; that bastard is going to spend the rest of his life in jail.”

 

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Guest Writer: NAYA YAW BOATENG :: THE TRIAL OF THE BEAST :: EPISODE 2

 

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