Gregory Afoko
A High Court in Accra has discharged Gregory Afoko and Asabke Alangdi, who were standing trial for the murder of then Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Adams Mahama.
The decision of the court presided over by Justice Marie-Louise Simmons, came as a result of the failure of the Attorney General to take a decisive position on the case which has been before three separate courts since 2015.
In February this year, Gregory Afoko pleaded not guilty – the third time he was doing so to one count of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
Around the same time, he was granted a GH¢500,000 bail with two sureties who must be justified.
His co-accused, Asabke Alangdi, who was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiracy to murder, also pleaded not guilty to murder.
This was the third time in about ten years that Afoko was standing trial for the murder of Mr. Adams in 2015, after acid was poured on him in the middle of the night upon returning home.
In June this year, Justice Simmons gave the Attorney General, Dr. Dominic Ayine, who was said to be reviewing the case, up to July 15, 2025, to expedite his decision else she will dissolve the jury hearing the case and discharge the accused persons.
Since then, nothing but adjournments have happened in the matter, although five witnesses had been called as at November 2024, before Dr. Ayine took over as Attorney General.
The trial has stalled for more than a year since the prosecution’s fifth witness was called in 2024, with the court taking long adjournments at the behest of the Attorney General, with the hope that a decision on the way forward would be arrived at.
However, the court could no longer entertain the delays, as the trial judge observed that the jurors had been appearing for the trial and the state has been paying them allowances for their services, although they were basically doing nothing.
The case was called again yesterday after another long adjournment, but there was not a single lawyer from the Office of the Attorney General, although defence lawyers were present and ready for the trial.
Justice Marie-Louise Simmons, recounting all the adjournments and the time given to the Attorney General to take a decision in the case, discharged the accused persons and dissolved the jury, while thanking them for their service.
Third Trial
Gregory Afoko was on a third round of trial after the first trial was truncated in 2019 by the Office of the Attorney General following the arrest of Asabke Alangdi, who fled the country after the incident in May 2015.
The second trial ended on April 27, 2023, with a seven-member jury presenting a verdict that shocked many.
The jury by a 4:3 decision found Gregory Afoko not guilty of conspiring to murder the late Adams Mahama, but unanimously found his co-accused, Asabke Alangdi guilty of the same offence.
The jury however, by 4:3 decision found the two accused persons not guilty of the substantive charge of murder, thereby resulting in a hung jury and a retrial by a different jury.
Part of the prosecution’s facts state that the deceased returned home at about 11:10 p.m. in his pick-up vehicle when the suspects poured the substance suspected to be acid on his head, face and other parts of his body and fled on a motorbike.
Adams Mahama reportedly identified Afoko as the person who poured the acid on him.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak