Kofi Nyame, one of the persons accused of killing Major Maxwell Mahama, says he was quite drunk and could not, therefore, tell for certain whether the stone he threw at the deceased hit its target.
Nyame, while giving his evidence-in-chief, stated that he was compelled by the circumstances to pelt the deceased with a stone, because he was once robbed.
The third accused told the court, presided over by a Justice of the Supreme Court with additional responsibility of the High Court, Her Ladyship Mariama Owusu, that the security situation of Denkyira Obuasi, prior to the incident, was poor.
Nyame was led to give his evidence-in-chief by his Defence Counsel and her are some questions and answers:
Q. Give your full name to the court?
A. My name is Kofi Nyame.
Q. What other name do you have?
A. Abortion.
Q. Before you were arrested where were you living or in which town were you living?
A. I lived at Denkyira Obuasi. I was arrested by the military and not the police.
Q. What work were you doing at Denkyira Obuasi?
A. I am a farmer, and I also buy diesel and sell.
Q. What was the security situation in Denkyira Obuasi before the incident?
A. The security situation was very bad before this case?
Q. Can you tell this court what you meant by the situation at Denkyira Obuasi is very bad?
Q. There was no police station in the town. When I say the security situation in Denkyira Obuasi is very bad there was no police station in the town. I work at night buying diesel, and on one evening I was attacked and my valuables and little money I had were taken away.
Q. Where were you on the day of the incident?
A. I was at Denkyira Obuasi.
Q. Can you tell the court what happened in the morning of May 29, 2017, in relation to the present case before you were arrested?
A. On the Sunday, I worked throughout the night, and the next day, that was Monday, I was very tired so I went to sleep. While sleeping, I heard loud noises on my door amidst calling of my name, and I came out from the room.
And my house is close to the road side; when I opened the door, I saw Sister Ataa, a lady in my house. Sister told me that she has discovered that an armed robber had been beaten, and since I lived by the roadside, I saw a lot of crowd on the road… I went to where I buy my diesel and I realised there was no vehicle coming and no vehicle going, because of the crowd.
I also joined the crowd, and members of the unit committee were there, and I asked whether they have arrested a thief and [why] don’t they take him to the hospital? A member of the committee told me I am not the one to tell them how to do their job.
After saying that to me, I stood aside, but then I saw that the crowd was beating a certain man, so when I approached the scene I saw that what they wanted to do had already been done.
When I remember what had happened and what I encountered previous time when I was robbed off my valuables, I felt pain, so I threw a stone at him (Major Mahama).
By then I was quite drunk, and because of that I cannot tell for certain if I hit him with the stone or not; then after I went back to sleep. So I came back home to sleep, and when I was sleeping I got a call from Agya Koo asking me to see him at where I buy my diesel.
When I went to see him, we had a chat and he told me that he will give me money for diesel, but then we did not know that the deceased was an army officer. Agyakoo countered money and gave it to me with some gallons.
When I was about to leave, I saw that Tikwa had come to park a motorbike behind us, around 3pm.
Tikwa told Agyakoo that if it was not for him, the people of Denkyira Obuasi would not have been able to apprehend the deceased. Agyakoo also told Tikwa not [to] park his motorbike at where he sells the diesel to avoid members of Denkyira Obuasi coming after him.
All this while the people of Denkyira Obuasi did not know that the person they were hitting with the stones and sticks and had shot was a military officer. After 4pm I came back home.
At about 5pm I had a call from Agyakoo and he told me to bring back the money he had just given me. So I returned his money to him and returned home. That was when Agyakoo called and told me that the deceased was [a] soldier.
Because I was troubled, I went to drink again.
Q. In your evidence before the court you mentioned one Tikwa, who is he?
A. Tikwa was the one who said he shot at the deceased.
Q. What’s Tikwas status at Denkyira Obuasi?
A. …
Q. Do you know where Tikwa is?
A. Now I can’t tell [the] exact location of Tikwa.
Q. Can you tell the court the circumstances surrounding your arrest?
A. When I returned home to sleep, my younger sibling called me, but I did not pay any attention to his call. He told me that the people in the town are running away.
I went out and saw that people were boarding vehicles and motorbikes to leave the town, so I asked myself was it because the man was a military officer that was why Agyakoo asked [me] to return the money he has given me earlier?
When that happened, I went back to sleep. Whilst sleeping, about 2:30am to 3:00am, I heard a loud noise on my door and when I enquired [who] was there, the person said “foolish man come out.”
When I got up to unlock the door they pulled me and in the process I fell on my forehead and [they] hit me with the butt of a gun on my forehead; held me and dragged me into the back of their pickup.
Case adjourned to February 13 for continuation.
