Wife Killer Jailed

AN ACCRA Circuit court presided over by Mrs. Georgina Mensah-Datsa has sentenced Karim Yakubu, alias Abuu, 28, to eight years imprisonment for attempting to murder his 'wife' and her colleague.

Prosecuting, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) George Abavelim told the court that the complainant, Salamatu Haruna, 24, stayed and worked at the Komkomba Market in Accra as a porter and the accused also worked as a porter in the same market.

The prosecutor said the two were formerly married and living with their four-year-old daughter (name withheld) at Amrahia near Oyibi, a suburb of Accra. About six months ago the complainant had to move out of her matrimonial home to stay with friends at the Konkomba Market due to the constant beatings she received from the accused.

ASP Abavelim said before leaving her matrimonial home, she had borrowed an amount of one million old Ghana Cedis from one Wasila for the accused, on January 14, 2008 and that Wasila was demanding the money from the complainant, who then approached the accused on the issue.

Yakubu was said to have hatched a plan and asked the two women to follow him to his house at Amrahia for the money.

At about 8pm, the prosecutor said, while on a bush path heading towards the house, the accused suddenly attacked the complainant and head-butted her in the face.

The effect of the head-butt was said to have dazed the complainant and she fell to the ground.

ASP Abavelim indicated that when Wasila tried to raise an alarm, the accused pulled a knife from the side of his trousers and started pursuing her but she managed to escape to an unknown place.

The accused then charged on the complainant and stabbed her in the neck, causing her to bleed profusely.

He then picked a large brick nearby and directed it at her head to 'finish' her but she managed to use her arm to prevent the block from hitting her head and later fell unconscious.

Thinking she was dead, the accused rushed to the house and informed his landlord, one Alhaji Nuhu Odoi Beyeden, a witness in this case, that he was coming home with his estranged wife when she got knocked down by a car. Witness quickly rushed to the scene with the accused and found Salamatu unconscious and in a pool of blood.

He suspected foul play and started questioning the accused, who found himself wanting and took to his heels.

The prosecutor said Alhaji Beyeden then raised an alarm and a mob pursued Yakubu until he was apprehended.

The complainant and accused were both taken to the Domestic Violence and Victims' Support Unit (DVVSU) at the Madina police station.
The investigator in the case, Inspector Georgina Sabe, after the necessary investigations, prepared the accused for court.

In his caution statement, the accused admitted head-butting the complainant but denied stabbing her with a knife.

Mrs. Mensah-Datsa subsequently sentenced him on his own plea and he was whisked away to the Nsawam Prisons.By Wisdom Peter Awuku