Twelve of the fourteen defendants on trial for Major Mahama’s death have received unanimous guilty verdicts from the jury in the Major Mahama case.
The 12 were convicted on charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and aiding and abetting murder.
Given their convictions on the counts, each of them has been sentenced to life in prison.
Among the 12 is the local assembly member, who was charged with organizing the neighborhood to assault Major Mahama at the time of the incident.
In the meantime, the jury found two of the accused not guilty of the charges against them, leading to their acquittal and discharge.
The jury has been dismissed, and Justice Mariama Owusu will now sentence the guilty men and women.
“It’s been a long battle, started way back in December 2017. Persons accused were committed to some trial at the High Court, that was in April 2018. It’s been about 5 years or more, the whole justice we all know grinds slowly. But today we have seen justice. Two have been acquitted and 12 sentenced. I don’t think the public will contest the acquittal of those two persons. We are satisfied with the conviction. And we can only express our sympathies with the family of the late Major Mahama. They have suffered a lot, they have gone through a lot, but at least they have seen justice and I’m sure they should be happy about it.”
On May 29, 2017, Major Mahama was lynched while performing his duties at Denkyira-Obuasi in the Central Region.
The military officer had been misidentified as a robber, according to a later account.
After the incident, more than fifty people were apprehended; fourteen of them were eventually screened for potential prosecution.
In July 2022, the High Court rejected a motion from the attorneys representing the 14 defendants in the Major Mahama Murder trial to submit no case.
The 14 claimed that the prosecution had not presented a strong enough case against them, including William Baah, the assemblyman for Denkyira Obuasi at the time.
Hence, their attorneys contended that since they were not connected to Major Mahama’s terrible death, they ought to be exonerated of the accusation.
However, their argument was rejected by Justice Mariama Owusu, a Justice of the Supreme Court serving as an additional High Court Judge.
