The late Major Maxwell Adams Mahama
Chief Inspector Daniel Arthur Yeboah, who is the 10th prosecution witness in the trial of 14 persons, on Monday told an Accra High Court that the body of the late Major Maxwell Adams Mahama was covered in blood with bruises all over when police officers arrived at the scene after his gruesome murder.
Led in his evidence-in-chief by Joshua Sackey, a senior state attorney, the witness stated that the deceased soldier was surrounded by more than 100 people at the scene.
“We drove them away and found the alleged robber lynched. We found him naked with bruises all over, broken blocks around and part of the body partially burnt and the head damaged and blood all over,” the witness recounted.
Chief Inspector Arthur said that he asked his men to remove the corpse from the road and deposit it at the morgue pending autopsy.
Armed Men
The witness told the court how William Baah, who was the then Assembly man for the area mobilised two men, who were armed with single-barrel gun after he received a call that an alleged armed robber, was spotted in the town with a pistol on his side.
He said William Baah, one of the accused persons standing trial, came to the police station to complain about the presence of an alleged robber in the town.
He said Baah and his friends met the late Major Mahama at a section of the Denkyira Obuase Cemetery and attempted approaching him, but he allegedly pulled his pistol and pointed it at the assembly man who managed to escape.
Chief Inspector Arthur narrated that he directed William Baah to make a formal complaint about the incident.
Detachment Commander
The witness told the court that in the evening of May 29, 2017, three military officers travelled to the Diaso Police Station to report that their detachment commander, then Captain Adams Mahama, had gone for jogging but had not returned.
He said one WO2 Achia Yaw told him at the police station that as at 4pm they had not heard from him, but they had heard that an alleged armed robber had been lynched and the body deposited the morgue.
“According to the WO, he and his colleagues followed up to the hospital and identified the body of the commander. So my district officer and three policemen and two Community Police Assistants made inquiries at Dunkwa Ofeng and Denkyira Obuse because of what the soldier came to report.”
The witness tendered in evidence four photographs taken at the scene.
By Gibril Abdul Razak