It is provided under CRIMINAL OFFENCES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2023, ACT 1101
“Murder Section 46: A person who commits minder is liable on conviction to life imprisonment.”.
Daniel Obirikwa Adjin who stabbed his elder brother to death in 2017 at Mamprobi in Accra has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Accra High Court. Adjin was sentenced by the court after the jury, in a 5-2 decision, returned a verdict of guilty on him at the end of the trial.
“The jury after a majority decision of 5-2, accused is hereby convicted on the charge of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment,” the court, presided over by Justice Marie-Louise Simmons, said. The court informed the convict that he had one month to appeal against the sentence at the Court of Appeal.
During trial, the convict told the court that he committed the act in self-defence.
He said his brother, William Adjin, attacked him and held his testicles, resulting in he (convict) stabbing him in the process.
He further attributed his actions to being intoxicated and confused because his money had gone missing in his room.
Defence counsel for Adjin said they found the decision by the jury difficult to swallow, by law they had no choice but to respect the verdict.
Opanyin Nye Na, a Senior Attorney and a prosecutor, after giving some bible quotations to Adjin to read, urged him to seek God first and be hungry for His word.
The prosecution’s case was that the complainant, Daniel Adjei Adjin, is the son of the deceased, William Adjin, and both were residents of Mamprobi.
The convict is also the younger brother of the deceased. On March 19, 2017, at about 21 hours, the complainant retired to bed in their bedroom while his father (deceased) rested on the porch after he had finished eating.
The complainant said he suddenly heard a shout for help from his father who was struggling with the convict.
When he got closer to them, prosecution said the complainant noticed that blood was oozing from the collar bone of his father and the convict was trying to stab him further with a knife.
Prosecution said the complainant then rushed to aid his father and he held the hand of the convict, thus preventing him from inflicting further wounds.
“The complainant was all this while shouting for help and a next-door neighbour, one Sister Love, rushed to the scene with other people and they tried to retrieve the knife from the accused, but they could not as the accused person was holding onto it firmly and in the process, the knife broke.”
The deceased was rescued and rushed to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Accident Centre where he was treated, prosecutor said. He said about an hour later, the nurses informed the complainant that his father had died from the injuries. The complainant therefore reported the matter to the police at Mamprobi.
The complainant indicated that after stabbing the deceased, the convict managed to escape and went to James Town. At James Town, Prosecution said the convict, on seeing the mother and sister of the complainant, picked up something in an attempt to harm them.
However, they called for help and with the aid of people around, managed to arrest the convict and sent him to the James Town police station, where he was later transferred to the Mamprobi Police station.
The Postmortem examination performed by Dr Lawrence Edusei of the Department of Pathology, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, gave the cause of death as “Exsanguination and Multiple Stabbed Injuries.”
Four witnesses were called by the prosecution to establish a case against the convict.
GNA
