A blacksmith, Daniel Obirikwa Adjin, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the High Court in Accra for murdering his elder brother, whom he had accused of squeezing his testicles.
Daniel Obirikwa Adjin was convicted and sentenced on Monday, November 25, 2024, after a seven-member jury panel returned a 5-2 majority verdict of guilt against him for murder.
With the verdict of the jury binding on the court, Justice Marie-Louise Simmons, who presided over the matter, sentenced him in accordance with the law.
Before the jury retired to deliberate on their verdict, Justice Simmons summed up the trial for them and directed them on the law, their duties, and the evidence presented by all parties.
The court also took time to explain to the jury the elements that the prosecution was required to prove for its charge of murder to succeed.
While the court drew the jury’s attention to self-defense as a legal remedy for a person whose life is threatened, it clarified that provocation only plays the role of a partial defense.
The accused had claimed that he returned home on that fateful day drunk and discovered that his money was missing from his bag.
Regarding the claim that the accused was drunk when he returned home, Justice Simmons took time to explain to the jury how this would affect the case of murder.
She explained that the accused must demonstrate that he had no knowledge of consuming the drink and that someone unknowingly offered it to him.
EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Murtala Inusah, reports that before sentencing, the convict was informed that he has a month to challenge the conviction at the Court of Appeal if he so desires.
Brief Facts
According to the brief facts of the case, as presented to the court by the prosecution, led by Seth Awere-Opanyinyena, a Principal State Attorney (PSA), the complainant, Daniel Adjei Adjin, is the son of the deceased, William Adjin. The deceased and the complainant both lived at Mamprobi. The accused, Daniel Obirikwa Adjin, was the younger brother of the deceased and also lived in the same house.
The prosecution narrated that on March 19, 2017, at about 9:00 pm, the complainant went to bed in the bedroom, while his father (the deceased) was resting on the porch after finishing his meal.
The complainant, according to the prosecution, suddenly heard a shout from his father, who was struggling with the accused while shouting for help.
“He (the complainant) got closer to them and noticed that blood was gushing out of his father’s collarbone and that the accused was attempting to stab the deceased further with a knife,” the PSA said.
The complainant rushed to the aid of his father and held the hand of the accused, preventing him from inflicting any further wounds.
“The complainant was shouting for help, and a next-door neighbor, Sister Love, rushed to the scene with other people. They tried to take the knife from the accused, but he was holding it firmly, and in the process, the knife broke,” the PSA stated.
“The deceased was rescued and rushed to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital accident center, where he was treated,” the prosecution added.
The PSA went on to explain that about an hour later, the nurses informed the complainant that his father had died from the injuries.
He then went to the Mamprobi Police Station to lodge a complaint. The prosecution stated that after stabbing the deceased, the accused managed to escape the crime scene and flee to James Town.
“When the suspect arrived in James Town and saw the complainant’s mother and sister, he picked up something and attempted to hit them with it. However, they called for help, and with the aid of people around, they managed to arrest the accused and take him to the James Town Police Station, from where he was later transferred to the Mamprobi Police Station,” the prosecution said.
Squeezed Testicles
In his investigation caution statement, Daniel Obirikwa Adjin, the accused, stated that he is a blacksmith who had lived in his late father’s house for 10 years, with his workshop also located there.
He claimed that on the fateful day, around 9:00 pm, he returned from an outdooring ceremony heavily drunk. He said that after entering his room, he took some money to buy food but realized it was missing from his bag.
The accused further stated that he then came out of his room holding a kitchen knife and shouting at the top of his voice, asking who had stolen his money.
According to him, as he was shouting, the deceased came out of his room, rushed at him, pushed him to the ground, and squeezed his testicles.
He said that during their struggle on the ground, he did not know how the knife he was holding ended up stabbing the deceased but realized there was a lot of blood gushing out.
The accused stated that the deceased started shouting for help, which attracted many people to the scene. As people tried to separate them, the accused was still holding onto the knife. They could not take it from him, so they hit his hand with a stick, weakening his grip, and the knife eventually broke.
The prosecution said that based on the facts and evidence presented, the accused was charged with murder contrary to Section 46 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), and arraigned before the court for trial.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
