Accra, Dec. 19, - The Accra
Central District Court on Tuesday discharged eight out of the 22 people
involved in the murder of Major Maxwell Mahama.
The eight, Vivian Asahene,
Ebenezer Appiah, Solomon Sackey, Kwame Adjei, Yaw Annie, Solomon Kojo Fordjour,
Philip Badu and Anthony Amoah were set free following an application by state
attorneys to that effect.
Mrs Evelyn Keelson, a Principal
State Attorney, informed the court that there was no evidence to prosecute the
eight.
She, however, said the Attorney-
General’s (A-G) Department had served the bill of indictment on the other 14
accused and was ready to start the committal proceedings, a prelude to the
trial at the High Court.
Counsel for the accused persons,
Mr Bernard Shaw, however, told the court about his intention to seek for
compensation for the eight who were discharged.
According to him, those set free
had suffered a lot of trauma since their arrest in May, 2017.
The court, presided over by Mr
Worlanyo Kotoku, adjourned the case to January 11, 2018 for the commencement of
the committal proceedings of the 14 other accused persons.
At the last sitting the
prosecution told the court that it would discharge six of the accused persons
because, there were no enough evidence to prosecute them, hence the orders for
their discharge.
Major Mahama, an Officer of the
5th Infantry Battalion at the Burma Camp was on duty at Dankyira-Obuasi, when
on May 29, he was lynched by some residents, who allegedly mistook him for an
armed robber because he had a pistol in his back pocket.
The mob ignored his consistent
plea that he was an officer of the Ghana Armed Forces.
In the cause of the
investigations 22 persons were arrested and place in police custody pending
trial.
GNA
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