Survivor • Lawyer beats death after gunshot to head
On June 24, last year, Mr Daniel Ledi was to be called to the bar during a Mini Call.
Advertisement
The day before his big day, at about 6.30p.m, he went to his Mobile Money shop at Adjei Kojo near Tema, located a few meters away from his home to get some money to purchase some items for the next day. That was when disaster struck.
Four armed men on two motorcycles arrived at the shop to steal some money. That was about 15 hours to his Call to the Bar.
In an interview in Accra with The Mirror, Mr Ledi narrated how the men tried to force open the door to the shop but could not succeed.
He said one of the four men came to the front of the shop and instructed him to open the door.
Surprised by what was happening, Mr Ledi said he stood still, gazing at the armed man.
Frustrated by Mr Ledi’s failure to do as instructed, the man shot him in the head from a handshake range.
According to him, he fell unconscious and didn’t know what happened immediately after.
When he gained some consciousness he realised that the men had left, and some people were pulling him out of the shop.
He said the Good Samaritans rushed him to the Tema General Hospital where he realised he had not only been shot in the head, but also his right arm.
“Seeing that I may give up my ghost at any moment, I repeatedly said the following prayer while headed for the Tema General Hospital: God, please do not allow me to die because tomorrow is my Call to the Bar”, he said.
Before he was discharged from the Tema General Hospital, Mr Ledi said he was asked to do a CT scan on his head, and based on the scan, doctors at the hospital advised him to go to the Greater Accra Regional (Ridge Hospital), 37 Military or Korle Bu Teaching hospitals.
The lawyer said he consulted one of the senior Neurosurgeons whose advice was the need for surgery on his head.
Mr Ledi recounted that he found out that head surgeries were expensive.
He said even though he had assurances of financial support from the Graphic Communications Group Ltd, he decided to wait on the Lord for a month.
Mr Ledi said when he returned to see the senior Neurosurgeon at the Ridge Hospital after a month, his diagnosis was “Daniel, you can live with this. You don’t need surgery anymore. God is good”.
After surmounting that hurdle, Mr Ledi said he started pursuing his Call to the Bar and the General Legal Counsel (GLC) added him to the main Call of October 2022 which was postponed to November 11.
“While I waited for November 11, I was upbeat; what will rob me of my dream of getting called to the Bar again?” he asked.
He is grateful to God that he was finally called and is now the Legal Officer at SUNU Assurances Ghana Ltd and also does some private practice at Addo, Addo (Legal Attorneys).
Looking back, Mr Ledi says he believes he needed what happened to enable him to learn the concept of waiting, strength of character and absolute belief in God and His will.
Advertisement
Asked how the incident had affected him Mr Ledi said: “I now trust so much in God and not my strength”.
“I worked hard to emerge the best student in Criminal Procedure. I scored 96 per cent but lost it to someone else who scored way lower than me because I was taken out of the Call to Bar of October 2021”, he said.
“I was due to be called to the Bar in October 2021. However, this did not happen as the Ghana School of Law had an issue with why I typed my log book which recorded my activities during my internship at the High Court, Tema. The school was of the view that I should have presented a handwritten log book and not a typed one. In my estimation, more than 50 per cent of my colleagues who got called to the Bar in October 2021 typed their log books,” he stated.
“The decision to exclude me from getting called in October 2021 was overturned by the Council, the regulator for legal education and Practice in Ghana. Although the council overturned the decision to exclude me from getting called in October 2021, they decided that I should be called during the Mini call of June 24, 2022”.
Advertisement
“My robbery incident of June 23, 2022 left me traumatised for months. Even a clap got my heart beating many times. I didn’t seek the help of psychologist but I have moved on now. The trauma is behind me,” he said.
Asked whether he had received justice after the robbery, the Legal officer said the police had made no arrests in connection to the incident.
“During the early days of the incident, I got phone calls from the police on a number of occasions, but after the initial calls, I heard nothing from them,” he said.
Mr Ledi will be 32 in October this year. He is married to Mrs Gloria Ledi.
Advertisement
He is the only male child and second born of five children born to his parents, Mr Victor Ledi and Mrs Martha Ledi.
Mr Ledi (second left) after his Call to the Bar, with his parents, Mr and Mrs Victor Ledi and his wife Mrs Gloria Ledi on his right
On his plans for the future, Mr Ledi said,” I want to own the biggest and one of the best law firms in Ghana”.
Writer’s E-mail. [email protected]/[email protected]