Eight years after the alleged acid incident that resulted in Adams Mahama's murder, the trial of Gregory Afoko, a farmer who was prosecuted with Asabke Alangde, has concluded.
Afoko and Asabke were reportedly cited by the late Mahama, the Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, as the people who allegedly killed him by pouring an acid-like liquid on him.
The accusation of conspiracy has been refuted by Gregory Afoko and Asabke, who identified himself as the chairman of the Bolga-Kumasi Ayamfuri Lorry Station Master. Afoko also entered a second not-guilty plea to the murder accusation.
Afoko was detained on May 21, 2015, one day following the incident on May 20, 2015, and Asabke was detained in January 2019, four years after leaving for the Ivory Coast out of "fear for his life."
As Asabke was taken into custody in January 2019 for a new trial, the Attorney General decided to end the Afoko trial that had been ongoing since 2015.
Once the second defendant was taken into custody on July 17, 2019, the trial was resumed.
The trial came to a conclusion on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, after Asabke, the second accused, had finished being cross-examined by the prosecution under the direction of Mrs Marina Appiah-Opare.
The defence attorney for Asabke also held brief Stephen Sorwah Charway for the defence when Mrs Appiah-Opare marked the conclusion of their cross-examination (Osafo Buabeng) because Afoko declared there will be no second examination.
To guarantee that the records of the proceedings are completed and handed to the parties so that they may file addresses, Judge Merley Afua Wood of the Court of Appeal, sitting as an extra High Court judge, postponed the case until March 8, 2023.
The judge also praised the jury, the prosecution, and the defence attorneys for their cooperation, stating "Thank you very much for your assistance."
Murtala Inusah, the Legal Affairs Correspondent for EIB Network, says that the jury's seven members would have to agree for the court to find the defendants guilty of murder and sentence them to death.
Following an alleged acid incident on May 20, 2015, they are both being held without bail as they stand trial for the murder of Adams Mahama, the Upper East Regional Chairman of the National Patriotic Party.
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