Major Mahama murder trial: Court discharges eight accused persons for lack of evidence
The Accra Central District Court on Tuesday discharged eight out of the 22 people involved in the murder of Major Maxwell Mahama.
The eight, Vivian Asahene, Ebenezer Appiah, Solomon Sackey, Kwame Adjei, Yaw Annie, Solomon Kojo Fordjour, Philip Badu and Anthony Amoah were set free following an application by state attorneys to that effect.
Mrs Evelyn Keelson, a Principal State Attorney, informed the court that there was no evidence to prosecute the eight.
She, however, said the Attorney- General’s (A-G) Department had served the bill of indictment on the other 14 accused and was ready to start the committal proceedings, a prelude to the trial at the High Court.
Counsel for the accused persons, Mr Bernard Shaw, however, told the court about his intention to seek for compensation for the eight who were discharged.
According to him, those set free had suffered a lot of trauma since their arrest in May, 2017.
The court, presided over by Mr Worlanyo Kotoku, adjourned the case to January 11, 2018 for the commencement of the committal proceedings of the 14 other accused persons.
At the last sitting the prosecution told the court that it would discharge six of the accused persons because, there were no enough evidence to prosecute them, hence the orders for their discharge.
Major Mahama, an Officer of the 5th Infantry Battalion at the Burma Camp was on duty at Dankyira-Obuasi, when on May 29, he was lynched by some residents, who allegedly mistook him for an armed robber because he had a pistol in his back pocket.
The mob ignored his consistent plea that he was an officer of the Ghana Armed Forces.
In the cause of the investigations 22 persons were arrested and place in police custody pending trial.
Source: GNA