A Takoradi Circuit Court B, presided over by Abagail Afia Nyarko, has handed down a three months custodial sentence to Dominic Yankey, 34, Francis Asiedu, 33 and Joseph Baidoo, 24 for the roles they played in the disturbances that led to the acid bathing of some victims at the celebration of the Kundum Festival by the Apremdo Divisional Stool in 2018.
The three have also each been fined to pay GH¢1,000 or in default serve another three months custodial sentence.
A penalty unit is GH¢12 and multiplied by 1,000 amounts to GH¢12000.
That apart, the accused have also been ordered to pay a sum of compensation in the region of GH¢1,000.00 to the complainants, who are also victims of the acid bath.
The victims are Ignatius Yankey and Kingsley Cudjoe.
The court also ordered that the 1st accused, Dominic Yankey, pay GH¢1,000.00 compensation to one Mark Kwofie, also a victim.
The accused were arraigned before the Circuit Court and charged with three counts of offences, conspiracy to commit crime, to wit rioting with weapons contrary to section 29 (1) of the criminal offenses act 1960, act 29, abetment of crime, to wit rioting with weapons contrary to the criminal offenses act 21 and 199 of the criminal offenses act 1960, and abetment of crime, causing harm contrary to section 21, 59 of the criminal offenses act.
The accused pleaded not guilty and were duly represented by their legal counsel.
The facts of the case as read out in court by the prosecutor, Inspector Prince Kwadwo Nyarko, is that on September 20, 2018, the three accused, who are a faction of the royal family of the Apremdo Divisional Stool, carried weapons and disturbed a public gathering of celebrants of Kundum Festival in Apremdo.
In the process, they harmed the complainants by pouring a substance suspected to be acid on them.
He told the court, a medical form was issued to the victims/complainant to attend a hospital. At the end of investigation, the substance was proven to be acid.
