Adam Mahama
A second prosecution witness in the trial of Gregory Afoko and Asabke Alangdi has confirmed the involvement of the two in the murder of the Upper East Regional Chairman of the NPP, Adams Mahama.
The witness, Asigri Quin, an employee of SSNIT, who lived in the same flat with Mr. Mahama, told an Accra high court on Monday that the NPP Chairman mentioned the names of the two accused persons as the ones who poured acid on him before he died.
He then gave a harrowing account of how the NPP Chairman died as a result of the acid burns he suffered.
He is the second witness to have told the court that Mr. Mahama, while wounded and on his hospital bed, disclosed that Afoko and Alangdi were his assailants.
The prosecution’s first witness, Tofic Mutala, during his evidence-in-chief, had also mentioned the same person as being behind the gruesome murder to the court.
Mr. Quin, who led in his evidence-in-chief by Marina Appiah Opare, narrated how he was woken from his sleep to help in taking Mr. Mahama to the hospital after the acid was poured on him.
The witness told the court that on May 20, 2014 at about 11:40 pm, he was sleeping in his house when his wife woke him up and told him that somebody was in Mr. Mahama’s house crying for help.
He said he rushed to the deceased’s house where he met the late Mr. Mahama and his wife.
“Mr. Mahama was crying and wailing and his skin was peeling off and becoming reddish. Upon seeing me, he mentioned my name ‘Quin, help me and send me to the hospital’,” he narrated.
The witness told the court that because he was only wearing his boxer shorts at the time he had to rush back to his house to dress well.
He said upon his return, “Mr. Mahama gave me his car keys. Getting closer to the car, I opened the door and I realized that there was heat in the car. The dashboard of the car was melting and the driver’s seat had finished melting and it was left with metal. Upon realizing that I could not use his vehicle, I resorted to my own car. I rushed back to the house to pick my car keys. When I came out the deceased was naked, the cloth used to tie the deceased’s waist was all burnt. The deceased sat behind my car.”
He continued that “while we were on our way to the hospital, the now deceased started reciting Quranic verses and started mentioning names of Gregory Afoko and one Asabke. That he came from his construction site and met Gregory Afoko and Asabke. He said he parked his car, rolled down his car glass to talk to them, and before he realized they poured the substance on him.”
The witness told the court that upon reaching the hospital the now deceased was taken to the emergency ward while he looked for an appropriate place to park his car.
“After parking, I met the now deceased lying on the bed, the whole body was soaked in water. Zuwera told me that the doctor poured drip water to the body,” he said.
He added that the deceased gave him his phone to call Tofic but since the phone had a lock pattern on it he could not use it so he used the doctor’s phone to call Tofic, who did answer but showed up moments later.
He said he had to leave the hospital because he had an official trip to embark on.
Cross Examination
Stephen Charway, counsel for Afoko, during cross-examination put it to the witness that the now deceased never mentioned the names of the accused persons at the emergency ward but Mr. Quin said he did both in the car and also at the hospital.
Counsel also accused the witness of not being truthful to the court but the witness refuted the claim saying “I am very truthful to the court.”
BY Gibril Abdul Razak