The Accra High Court has sentenced Asabke Alangdi to death by hanging for allegedly planning to assassinate Adams Mahama, a former Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), in 2015 alongside Gregory Afoko.
A seven-member jury unanimously convicted Alangdi of conspiring to commit murder, and he will now be hanged.
The jury found Afoko not guilty on the counts of conspiracy to commit murder and murder, but the case will now be retried.
A hung jury in a murder trial is defined under Section 285 (4) of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30) as a verdict of 4-3, and a new trial is required. "This is a hung jury since the first accused [Afoko] was found not guilty by a majority verdict of 4-3.
The accused shall face a new trial, Justice Merley Afua Wood of the Court of Appeal, acting as an additional judge on the High Court, decided yesterday.
According to Section 24 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), which provides that the punishment for conspiracy to commit an offence is the same as the substantive offence, in this case murder, the court condemned Asabke to death.
"Asabke Alangdi, the men and women elected to try you, having found you guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, you are hereby sentenced to death by hanging," Justice Wood said.
"Stranger verdict"
Alangdi's attorney, Andrew Vortia, promised to challenge his client's death sentence right away, calling the jury's decision "strange" and an injustice.
He questioned how the jury could have convicted Alangdi of conspiring to murder someone while acquitting Afoko of the same allegation.
"How can someone work against themselves?" Conspiracy only constitutes a legal offense against two or more people, and each of the accusers must be found guilty. If the jury finds the first accused person not guilty based on the same evidence, with whom did my client conspire?
"It is impossible for one person to be found guilty of conspiracy while the other participant remains innocent." "So I'm going to file an appeal right away," Mr. Vortia declared.
He believed that the case was a resounding argument against the nation's jury system and that it ought to be abolished.
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