Kofi Seidu
Kofi Seidu, the man who was facing trial for murdering a British-American Missionary, Rev Sydney Thomas Barnes, was on Monday sentenced to death by hanging by an Accra High Court.
Another accused person, Rev Padmore Goodwill, was acquitted and discharged by the court because of the lack of evidence linking him to the murder.
Kofi Seidu, a driver, and Rev Padmore Goodwill, caretaker of Prestige Secretarial and Computer School, Koforidua, Eastern Region, were put before the court on charges of conspiracy to commit crime and murder.
They were said to have conspired and murdered Reverend Sydney Thomas Barnes, aged 75, and buried him on an old farm at Nsawam in the Eastern Region sometime in 2010.
After about four years of trial, a seven-member jury unanimously returned a verdict of guilty on the driver on the charge of murder.
However, on the charge of conspiracy to commit crime, to wit: murder, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and the two were acquitted and discharged subsequently on that charge.
Counsel for the two, Augustines Obuor, prayed the court to award Rev Goodwill compensation of GH¢500,000.
According to him, his client had been in prison custody since 2010 and had to be compensated in pursuant to Article 14 (5) of the 1992 Constitution.
He said his client also suffered mild stroke while in custody.
The state, represented by Elizabeth Sackeyfio, however, disagreed with the defence lawyer, saying Rev Goodwill, though acquitted and discharged, is not entitled to any compensation.
The court, presided over by Justice Iddrisu Abdullah, refused to grant the compensation and asked Rev Goodwill to properly justify his stand.
He added that the convict, Kofi Seidu, has 30 days to appeal his sentencing.
Addresses
On February 5, 2018, Ms Elizabeth Sackeyfio, as well as Augustines Obour, delivered their respective addresses to the jury and urged it to critically take into account all that transpired during the trial.
Ms. Sackeyfio, who made a case for the state, noted that the prosecution had called five witnesses, all of whom had knowledge of the murder.
She also read the facts, as well as the charges proffered against the two men and urged the jury to be guided by them (charges).
Mr. Obuor, on his part, averred that the five prosecution witnesses could not tell whether it was the accused persons, who really murdered the missionary.
He also stated that the prosecution witnesses failed to tell the court how Rev Padmore conspired with Seidu to commit the crime.
Background
The body of Rev Sydney Thomas Barnes was buried in a well on his pawpaw farm at Nsawam Adoagyiri.
The body was later exhumed when Seidu, on October 11, 2010, led a team of investigators and pathologists from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to the Mana Mission Farm – where the missionary was buried.
He was a British-America national, who had lived in Ghana since 1997 and established a church called Cross Road Christian Mission Incorporated in Koforidua, where he lived.
He also had a pawpaw and pineapple farm at Akwamu-Amanfo, near Nsawam Adoagyiri, which was under the management of Kofi Seidu.
Rev Sydney Thomas Barnes also owned the Prestige Secretarial and Computer School where Pastor Padmore Goodwill was the principal.
By Gibril Abdul Razak