After nearly 7 years of the gruesome lynching of the late Major Maxwell Adams Mahama by a mob in Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region, 12 persons have been found guilty of abetment, conspiracy and murder of the late soldier.
William Baah, the then Assemblyman of the area as well Bernard Asamoah, Kofi Nyame, Akwasi Baah, Kwame Tuffuor, Joseph Appiah Kubi, Michael Anim, John Boasie, Akwesi Asante, Charles Kwaning, Emmanuel Baidoo and Kwadzo Animah have been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The court, presided over by Justice Mariama Owusu, a Justice of the Supreme Court sitting as an additional High Court judge, convicted the 12 based on the jury’s verdict
Bismark Donkor and Bismarck Abanga have been acquitted and discharged following a not guilty verdict by the jury.
A seven member jury today, January 29, 2024 after about an hour of deliberation returned the verdicts, bringing an end to the case that had been before the court since 2018.
The Judge had previously summed up the evidence by both the prosecution and defence lawyers and guided the jury on the principles of the law to help them in the decision.
Brief Facts
The facts, presented by the prosecution, were that Major Mahama was the commander of a military detachment stationed at Diaso in the Upper Denkyira West District of the Central Region to check illegal mining activities.
At 8am on May 29, 2017, Major Mahama, wearing civilian clothes but with his sidearm, left his detachment base for a 20-kilometre jogging.
At 9:25 a.m., the military officer got to the outskirts of Denkyira Obuasi, where a number of women were selling foodstuffs by the roadside.
He stopped to interact with the women and even bought some snails, which he left in their custody to be taken up on his return from jogging.
While he was taking out money from his pocket to pay for the snails, the woman from whom he had bought the snails and a few others saw his sidearm tucked to his waist.
Soon after he left, one of the women telephoned the assembly member for Denkyira Obuasi to report what they had seen.
“Without verifying the information, the assembly member mobilised the accused persons and others, some now at large, to attack the military officer,” the prosecution stated.
It added that the mob met Major Mahama near the Denkyira Obuasi cemetery and, without giving him the opportunity to explain and identify himself, “attacked him with implements such as clubs, cement blocks and machetes, killed him and burnt a portion of his body”.
Source: Gibril Abdul Razak