Two To Hang For Murder

The Tamale High Court presided over by Mr Justice Gibson Adzadzi has sentenced two persons to death by hanging for murdering a customs officer at the Mambabik Checkpoint in the East Mamprusi District of the Northern Region.

The convicts are Jaman Duug, alias Jamduut and Jajinjin Duut alias Gengin Duut.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy and murder.

The facts of the case were that on December 17, 2001, the deceased, John Armah, went out on his normal duties from the Nyankaduri Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) station to the customs checkpoint at Mambabik on the Ghana-Togo border in the East Mamprusi District.

Mr Wiredu said while the deceased was at the checkpoint, one of the accused persons Jaman Duug approached with 10 gallons of akpeteshie apparently to sell the commodity on the Togo side of the border as it was a market day.

The deceased demanded that Jaman Duug paid customs duty on the commodity but he refused to do so.

Between 2.00 p.m. and 3. 00 p.m. on that same day, Duug and two other persons passed by the Ghana side of the border.

Duug again had some uncustomed goods with him and the deceased demanded that he paid duty on the goods but the accused person refused.

A struggle then ensued between the two and Duug slapped the deceased twice on the face.

The deceased also seized Duug's bicycle pump and in the struggle, Duug fell.

One of the accused persons, Jambituk Kaam, who is now at large then ran to the village and brought along a locally manufactured pistol and threatened to shoot the deceased.

Meanwhile, a group of people who had gathered at the scene tried to lynch the deceased by throwing stones at him.

The deceased then ran to seek refuge in a nearby house.

While in one of the rooms in the house, the people still went there and threw stones at him in the room.

The assembly member for the area, Labik Sampson Kork, appeared on the scene and decided to rescue the deceased but to no avail.

Jajinjin Duut attempted to burn down the room in which the deceased had hidden himself.

This made the deceased to ran out to hide in another room at the Togo side of the border.

The deceased was still pursued by Jambituk Kaam and Jajinjin Duut and here also they attempted to burn down the house in which the deceased was hiding and so he had to come out.

When the deceased came out, Kaam shot at the deceased who fell and got up again. But Duut hit the deceased with a very big stone on the head and killed him instantly.