The late Major Maxwell Mahama
THE OFFICE of the Attorney General yesterday closed its case in the trial of 14 persons accused of murdering the late Major Maxwell Mahama at Denkyira Obuasi (New Obuasi) in the Central Region in 2017.
This was after the court discharged the prosecution’s 14th and final witness following the conclusion of cross-examination by the defence lawyers.
Major Mahama was brutally lynched in May 2017, while on detachment duties with some military officers in Denkyira Obuasi.
He was the captain of the 31-member military team sent to the town to guard the properties of C&G Mining Company as a result of illegal mining activities in the area.
Twenty-two people were initially arrested in connection with the murder and were put before Accra Central Magistrate Court for committal.
Eight of the suspects were later discharged by the court, as the state said it did not find any concluding evidence of the role they played in the lynching of the late soldier.
14 others have, however, been put before an Accra High Court to face murder and abetment of murder charges.
They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against them although state prosecutors say the accused persons, except the then Assemblyman of the area, William Baah, were captured in a video during the crime.
The prosecution during the presentation of its case called 14 witnesses who gave various accounts of what happened on the day and what they witnessed.
On April 13, 2021, there was total silence in the courtroom when video recordings of the gruesome murder of the late Major Maxwell Adam Mahama were played before it.
The six minutes and 26 seconds videos, which form part of the evidence presented to the court by the prosecution in the trial of 14 persons arraigned for the murder of the soldier, documented how his assailants attacked him.
The horrific video showed how some of the residents of Denkyira Obuasi, some of whom are now on trial, mistook the slain army officer for a ‘thief’ and beat him to death.
Defence
The defence lawyers during their cross-examinations claimed the real perpetrators of the heinous crime are on the run.
Augustine Gyamfi, counsel for Michael Aning and Charles Kwening, made the claims during the cross-examination of the seventh prosecution witness, Ebenezer Appiah.
The lawyers also asserted that the prosecution witnesses were not truthful with the court, and the accused persons had nothing to with the murder of the late soldier.
The prosecution led by Frances Mullen Ansah, a Principal State Attorney, after their 14th witness was discharged told the court that they have closed their case.
The defence lawyers subsequently informed the court of their decision to file for a submission of no case, and the court, presided over by Justice Mariama Owusu, a Supreme Court judge sitting as an additional High Court judge gave them two weeks to officially file the submissions.
She adjourned the case to May 30, 2022, to give a date for the prosecution to file their response to the submission of no case.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak