Gregory Afoko
The trial of 52-year-old Gregory Afoko over the murder of Adams Mahama, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Upper East Regional Chairman, resumes in an Accra high court today.
The trial, prior to its long adjournment in July, saw Hajia Zainabu Adams, wife of the deceased, in the dock as the first prosecution witness.
At the previous sitting, Zainabu said her husband described the accused as the younger brother of the suspended national chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paul Afoko, and one Asabke Alangdi as those who poured the deadly substance on him (Adams), leading to his death.
Gregory Afoko is being tried on charges of conspiracy to commit crime and murder of Adams Mahama in May 2015.
Gregory Afoko has pleaded not guilty in a court of seven-member jury.
Adams Mahama died of extensive acid burns and shock lungs (acute respiratory distress syndrome), an autopsy report has indicated.
Led in evidence by Chief State Attorney Matthew Amponsah, Zainab said she did not know Gregory Afoko before the incident.
She stated that at about 7:30 am on the day of the incident, Adams left the house in his Toyota pickup to inspect a hotel he was building along the Bolgatanga-Kumasi road.
Zainabu said her husband returned about 11pm that day shouting that he was “burning and dying” and that people should help him.
According to Zainabu, a trader who said she had married Adams for the past 26 years, she assisted her husband to come out of the vehicle naked.
She told the court presided over by Justice L. L. Mensah, that as a result, she dashed off to their room to pick a cloth to cover the nakedness of her husband.
“My husband returned home at 11pm crying in the car, saying ‘I am dying, younger brother of the politician Paul Afoko and Asabke have poured a substance on me,’” Hajia Adams told the court in Hausa.
The yells for assistance, she maintained, attracted the attention of other people to the scene, adding that Adams asked her to call him one Thomas.
Zainabu argued that the clothes Adams was wearing before he left the house was burnt beyond recognition and as such, collected all the pieces and kept them in a rubber.
The court further heard that in the company of the said Thomas and three other persons -Zaura, Mariama and Queen – Adams was sent to the Bolga Central Hospital for treatment.
She maintained that at the hospital he saw the flesh of Adams peeling off as nurses tried to attend to him.
Gregory was being charged for conspiracy to murder and murder when the Attorney General (AG) advised that he be tried for the murder of the NPP regional chairman while his alleged accomplice – Asabke – is still on the run.
However, Musa Issah, an alleged third accomplice, was freed because there was not much evidence to connect him to the crime.
A gallon of acid was said to have been found at the home of the second suspect, Asabke Alangdi, the prosecution had said.
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
jeffdegraft44@yahoo.com