The High Court in Accra has sentenced Otis Kwadwo Antwi, a driver, to life imprisonment for the murder of 35-year-old spray painter Emmanuel Okai in Mpohor.
A seven-member jury unanimously found Antwi guilty on Friday, November 22, 2024, following a full trial.
Presiding Judge, Justice (Mrs.) El-Freda Dankyi, handed down the life sentence in line with the jury’s decision.
The prosecution, led by Principal State Attorney Mrs. Sefakor Batse, called seven witnesses whose testimonies were pivotal in securing the conviction.
Both the prosecution and the defense lawyers had previously addressed the jury on their respective arguments.
It was the case of the State Prosecutor, Mrs. Sefakor Batse, the PSA, to the jury that the accused, considering the gory injuries he inflicted on the deceased, “clearly intended to cause the death of the deceased.”
She said the harm was not accidentally inflicted, but “clearly done intentionally to ensure that the victim would die.”
The PSA said the deceased was “slashed with a sharp object at his side, leading to his organs spilling out.”
Mrs. Batse said there were cuts all over the face and body, and “there was evidence that he had been dragged on the road over a distance.”
She said the “horrible” nature of the slash on the deceased’s body “was surely intended to cause death and nothing else.”
Counsel for the accused (now convict), Akwasi Opoku Agyemang, who was holding Joe Debrah Esq.’s brief, said what the prosecution had done was “to raise suspicions and speculations but not credible evidence which should lead the jury to return a verdict of Guilty on the accused.”
He said the key aspects of the prosecution’s case had been left hanging by a thread on suspicions and speculations when “they should be incontrovertible” and lead the jury to “conclusively determine” that the accused person was there with the deceased and killed him.
Counsel said that the standard of proof the prosecution is by “statute required to present to you (jury) in proving the guilt of the accused should, beyond reasonable doubt, lead to the guilt of the accused.”
“The so-called lies and inconsistencies they accuse the accused person of must not absolve them from their statutorily-mandated duty to provide evidence leading to only one irresistible conclusion,” Counsel told the jury.
The accused was charged with murder contrary to section 46 of Act 29, and his plea was taken on March 10, 2021. A jury was empaneled.
On April 14, 2021, both the prosecution and defense addressed the court and the jury before the prosecution called seven witnesses to establish their case.With the decision of the jury bound by the Court, the presiding Judge, Justice (Mrs.) El-Freda Dankyi, sentenced him to life imprisonment in accordance with the law.
He said the key aspects of the prosecution’s case had been left hanging by a thread on suspicions and speculations when “they should be incontrovertible” and lead the jury to “conclusively determine” that the accused person was there with the deceased and killed him.
The accused was charged with murder contrary to section 46 of Act 29, and his plea was taken on March 10, 2021. A jury was empaneled.
On April 14, 2021, both the prosecution and defense addressed the court and the jury before the prosecution called seven witnesses to establish their case.
