Gregory Afoko
A High Court in Accra has set December 5, 2023, to take the plea of Gregory Afoko, who is accused of murdering the late Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Adams Mahama by pouring acid on him.
The court will on that day also decide whether to retry Asabke Alangdi on the charge of murder, as the court which previously convicted and sentenced him to death for conspiracy to commit murder did not make such an order.
The prosecution, led by Marina Appiah Opare, a Chief State Attorney at the Office of the Attorney General, is pushing for the court to retry Asabke for murder, indicating that the previous court inadvertently omitted the order for him to be retried on the charge of murder.
They submit that the omission by the previous trial court is not fatal, and referred to section 406 of Act 30.
The defence, on the other hand, is against the accused being retried on the substantive charge of murder since the court that convicted him on conspiracy did not order a retrial.
The ‘Criminal Court 2’, presided over by Justice Marie Louise Simmons, as result suspended the taking of the pleas of the accused persons yesterday to decide on whether both accused can be tried on the charge of murder.
She, therefore, adjourned the case to December 5, 2023, for her decision as well as the empanelling of a seven-member jury for the trial.
This is the third time Afoko is facing trial for the offence of allegedly killing Adams Mahama in May 2015.
The first trial was truncated by the Office of the Attorney General following the arrest of Afoko’s alleged accomplice, Asabke Alangdi, who fled the country after the incident.
The second trial ended on April 27 this year 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 Mr. 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.
While Afoko is to be retried as a result of a hung jury, Asabke Alangdi was sentenced to death by hanging after he was convicted by the court based on the jury’s guilty verdict on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder.
Part of the prosecution’s facts state that the deceased returned home around 11:10pm in his pick-up vehicle, with registration number NR 761 – 14, and immediately he parked the vehicle in front of his house, the suspects went close and signaled him to roll down the glass.
The deceased identified the suspects to be party members and rolled down the glass to talk to them.
Suddenly, the suspects poured the substance suspected to be acid on his head, face and other parts of his body and fled on a motorbike.
The deceased started screaming for help and his wife, Hajia Zenabu Adams, went to his aid and managed to bring him out of the vehicle, the prosecution indicates.
The facts state that Mr. Mahama’s wife also sustained burns on the right side of her chest and breast while assisting her husband.