Mr Godfred Dame, the Attorney General, has said mob justice would not be entertained in the country.
He said people could not take justice into their own hands in a bid to punish their victims.
Mr Dame said this when the family of the late Major Maxwell Adams Mahama made a call on him at his Office in Accra.
The call was for the family to express gratitude to the AG and the prosecution team led by the Director of Public Prosecution.
An Accra High Court through a jury trial on January 29, 2024, found William Baah, a former Assemblyman for Denkyira-Obuasi and 11 others guilty of the murder of the late Major Maxwell Adams Mahama.?
In a unanimous verdict of the seven-member jury, the convicts were found guilty of abetment to murder, conspiracy to commit to wit murder and murder.
The Court presided over by Justice Mariama Owusu, a Justice of the Supreme Court, sitting as an additional High Court Judge accordingly convicted and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The sentences are to run concurrently.
The
other convicts are?Bernard Asamoah alias Daddy, Kofi Nyame a.k.a Abortion, Akwasi Boah, Kwame Tuffour, Joseph Appiah Kubi, Michael Anim, John Bosie, Akwasi Baah, Charles Kwaning, Emmanuel Badu and Kwadwo Anima.
Meanwhile, the court has also acquitted and discharged Bismarck Donkor and Bismarck Abanga for conspiracy to commit a crime to wit murder.
This is after a seven-member jury in their unanimous decision returned a not guilty verdict in their favour.?
The fourteen persons stood trial at the Accra High Court over the murder of Major Mahama, who was an Officer of the 5th Infantry Battalion, at Burma Camp.
The late Captain was on duty at Denkyira-Obuasi in the Central Region, when on May 29, 2017, some residents mistook him for an armed robber and lynched him.
The mob had ignored his persistent plea that he was an Officer of the Ghana Armed Forces.
Mr Dame said the sentencing of these persons would serve as a deterrent to others, who might want to engage in mob injustice in the future. ?
He said the n
ation had learnt a lesson from the death and trial and expressed the hope that ‘this horrific crime committed in the history of the nation will never repeat itself.’
The AG said it had taken about six years to have justice served on the convicts and the good thing was that the prosecution had stayed the course and had dispensed justice per the laws of the country.
He said even before the closure of the trial there were some major reforms to the country’s criminal justice system.
He said the length of the trial had also resulted in further amendments to the criminal procedure laws of the country.
‘Two months ago, I placed before cabinet the bill to reform the country’s criminal justice system to ensure that all the delays that occur during the trials are eliminated,’ he added.
Mr Dame said they were seeking also to reform the jury system and it was his view that it was because of the jury system that the trial lasted longer.
He said by and large they would eliminate the jury system because they had recom
mended an alternative jury system to cater for an absentee juror.
He said the passage of the?Vigilantism And Related Offences Act showed the commitment of the government to fighting any form of violence in the country going forward.
‘It is rather unfortunate your son had to be sacrificed for the people to learn these lessons,’ he added.
He assured the family of the government’s continued support to the immediate family he left behind.
?Mr Kaleonah Tizzala, the Uncle of the late Captain Mahama expressed gratitude to the AG and the prosecution team for doing a great work of dispensing justice to the convicts.
‘We have always prayed that one day justice will be served in the trial,’ he said.
He said the family had much support in Ghana and abroad and were grateful.
Madam Veronica Bamford, the Mother of the deceased, expressed the hope that what happened to the son never happened to anybody.
She said the current state of the tomb of the late Captain was not the best and urged the government to help take p
roper care of the tomb.
Source: Ghana News Agency