Court Sentences Farmer To Death

The Ho High Court, presided over by Mr Justice Kofi Essel Mensah, has sentenced Kofi Fiaku, a farmer from Bekpoe near Dabala in the South Tongu District, to death by hanging for murdering his girlfriend.

This was after a seven-member jury had found him guilty on the charge of murder. The convict had pleaded not guilty to the charge and was assigned Mr Godwin Kpoble, as a legal counsel.

Giving the facts of the case, a senior state attorney, Mr Koku-Mensah Akude, said in December last year, the deceased, Zashie Gbeve, was returning from a funeral and upon reaching a spot between Gonu and Bekpoe she heard a woman calling from somewhere to take cover only to turn to see the convict.

He said the convict confronted the deceased and said “today you and I shall see”, adding that Fiaku pulled out a machete from a sack and chased the deceased and slashed her neck, shoulders and fingers.

Mr Akude said the deceased fell on the ground groaning in a pool of blood and raised an alarm while the accused ran into the bush with the machete.

He said a pick-up later pulled up and Zashie was placed in it but she died on the way to hospital. He said the accused was arrested on December 18, 2008 by one Staff Sergeant J.K. Kpodo of Sogakope Police and when interrogated, he admitted the offence, alleging that the girlfriend owed him GH¢90.

Pronouncing sentence, Justice Essel-Mensah said the convict “will be hanged on the neck and buried at a place to be decided after his death”. The convict has 90 days to appeal against the sentence.