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Man goes blind after assault, weeps in court room during judgement
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A 78-year-old man who has become blind following an attack on him at a cemetery at Teshie in Accra without any provocation, wept in acc High Court (Criminal Court ‘3’) on the day the court was about to pronounce judgement on his attackers.
Nii Ashiboi Mensah popularly called Nii Santo within the Teshie Community, was slashed on his neck in 2014, by Mr. Joseph Ashikwei Tigany, who has been sentenced to 25 years in prison by Her Ladyship, Mrs. Justice Mary M.E. Nsenkyire.
The court again jailed Daniel Ashitei, Philip Boye and Nii Armah 15 years each for finding them guilty of conspiracy to commit crime but considered the advanced age of nii Agoe Kaatso who is about 83 years, and sentenced him to one month imprisonment also on the same charge of conspiracy.
Mr. Santo, who had harboured some pain for the seven years that the case was pending in court, could no longer control his emotions and wept when the judge was recapitulating (recap) the brief facts of the case as presented by the sate prosecution.
She said that the victim, Nii Ashiboi Mensah popularly called Nii Santo was a retired driver and lived at Teshie Camp 2, while the five convicts were also drivers but resided at Teshie Bush Road.
She said that the acting Dzaasetse of Lanshie Quarter by name Nii Jerry died and during preparations for his funeral, a faction belonging to the same Lanshie Quarter and headed by a man called Nii Kwabotwe was not in agreement that the deceased (Nii Jerry) should be buried at the Lanshie Royal Mausoleum at Teshie.
According to prosecution this brought a misunderstanding between the two factions on April 24, 2014, which the Municipal Security Committee (MUSEC) of LEKMA held a meeting with them (factions) to settle the matter.
Prosecution claimed that during the meeting, Nii Agoe Kaatso (then 5th Accused) threatened to cut the head of the victim if he stepped foot at the cemetery to dig a grave for the burial of Nii Jerry.
The facts continued that on April 25, 2014, Nii Santo (victim) who had sent some young men to go and dig a grave at the Royal Mausoleum, got a phone call from one of them (young men) to the effect that some people from the Nii Kwabotwe faction had come to attack them at the cemetery.
Upon the receipt of this information, the victim rushed to the place (Royal Mausoleum) and met Nii Armah Agbeko (then 4th Accused) standing on the cemetery wall.
Ms Craig (Prosecutor) said that the victim engaged him (Agbeko) in a conversation to impress upon his brothers to stop fighting the men he (victim) had sent.
She said that while the victim was still talking with Nii Armah Agbeko, they heard shouts from the cemetery compelling the two of them to rush to the place to see what was amiss.
Prosecution said that when the victim entered the cemetery, he saw Joseph Ashikwei Tigany (then 1st Accused), Daniel Ashitei (then 2nd Accused), Philip Boye (then 3rd Accused) with others struggling with the young men he had sent to dig the grave.
Ms Craig said that as the victim proceeded to the place the young men were struggling, he was met mid-way by Daniel Ashitei who held his hands together, and Joseph Ashikwei Tigany emerged from his (victim’s) left hand side and slashed his neck with a knife whilst Philip Boye and Nii Armah Agbeko looked on saying “today you are going to die”.
“Nii Santo was not the only person who sustained injuries; two other men who were part of the digging also sustained injuries as one had his forehead slashed and the other his hand.
“The victim, Nii Santo, was rushed to the hospital and had to be resuscitated after which he was rushed to the theatre to have the injury to the neck sutured.
“The doctor who attended to the victim issued him with a medical report which stated among other things that the wound inflicted on the victim’s neck by the 1st accused (Joseph Ashikwei Tigany) was life threatening,” prosecution concluded.
Passing sentence, Mrs Justice Mary Nsenkyire said, “The jurors having returned a verdict of guilty on all counts, I hereby convict all the accused persons with the offence of conspiracy to commit crime to wit causing harm with the use of offensive weapon. But the first accused has been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for causing harm.”
By Castro Zangina-Tong
A 24-year-old tricycle (Pragyia) rider, has been jailed three months by the Nkawie Circuit Court in the Atwima Nwabiagya South Municipality of the Ashanti Region for biting a Community Police Assistant (CPA) at Nkawie.
Abdul Aziz pleaded guilty to the charge of negligently causing harm and was convicted on his own plea.
Police Inspector Kwaku Frimpong, prosecuting told the court presided by Mr Robert Addo that, complainants in the case were officers from the Nkawie Divisional Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service.
He said on September 3, at about 8:40am, the complainants led by Chief Inspector Abedi Larbi, were on their official patrol duty to ensure safety at Nkawie township and met the convict, who was in-charge of a Pragya tricycle with registration number M-25-A-3722.
He explained that, after a careful inspection, it was detected that the convict was without licence and other required documents, so Alhassan Seidu, the CPA, was instructed to lead him to the office for the next action.
On their way to the office, the convict took a different direction, so the CPA directed him to take the right route to the police station, but he disobeyed and attacked the CPA, resulting in a struggle between them.
In the process the convict bit the CPA on the chest, so he shouted for help and some nearby youth rushed to the scene and helped him to arrest the convict.
In his caution statement, he admitted the offence and after further investigations he was charged and brought before the court. –GNA
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The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has urged the government to place all 54,985 candidates affected by the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) placement exercise in schools and publish the final outcome.
The party says the government must ensure that the affected candidates secure actual school places rather than merely being allowed to access the self-placement portal.
In a statement signed by the Chairman of the NPP Policy Co-ordination Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the party expressed concern about the situation facing the candidates.
The NPP said the government had announced that 53,887 of the affected candidates could use the self-placement system after initially being told that they had not qualified for secondary school.
It, however, argued that access to the portal did not guarantee that candidates would secure their preferred schools or programmes.
“Ghanaian parents and candidates will judge the resolution of the challenge by one thing only: how many of the original 54,985 are sitting in a classroom, not how many were allowed to open a website,” the statement noted.
The party said the government’s own figures showed that the country had 859,828 declared vacancies for 623,072 BECE candidates.
It explained that the main challenge was the concentration of demand in a small number of highly subscribed schools.
The NPP noted that 313,283 candidates selected Category A schools as their first choice, while those schools had 76,417 declared vacancies.
It therefore called on the government to explore ways to improve schools with available spaces, including providing teachers, laboratories and better programmes.
The party urged the government to use the 85 private schools participating in the Free SHS programme to absorb candidates who remained without placements.
The NPP further called for clarification of the rule and pass mark used for this year’s placement exercise, saying parents were entitled to know the standard before their children sat the examination.
It urged the government to take urgent action to ensure that the affected candidates were not left behind in the transition to secondary education.
By: Jacob Aggrey
