Court orders retrial of murder case
A Ho High Court has ordered the retrial of a murder case involving a farmer who allegedly murdered a security guard of the Games and Wildlife Division at Nkwanta after a jury decision had favoured him.
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Although the trial judge, Justice Patrick Baaye, while summing up the evidence in court, pointed to the fact that the prosecution had proved five elements which showed that the farmer, Mr Safianu Muniru, committed the crime, a 5-2 majority decision of the seven-member jury had exonerated him.
Following the decision, the judge discharged the jury and ordered a re-trial because the jury could not unanimously decide on the verdict as required in law.
Murder charge
Mr Muniru had been accused of intentionally causing the death of the deceased, Samuel Sewura, whom he shot with a gun when the latter confronted him for unlawfully entering the Kyabobo National Park and killing a game.
After the delivery of the verdict, his counsel, Mr Emil Atsu Agbakpe, pleaded that the accused, who had stayed in custody for three years, should be granted bail while the retrial went on but the court declined with the reason that there was nothing to show that the retrial would delay.
This was after the State Attorney, Mr Moses Asampoa, had opposed the bail application on grounds that the retrial would be done in a speedy manner and also that murder was a serious offence and there was a possibility that the accused could abscond.
His counsel, visibly unhappy with the decision of the court not to grant bail, stated that “I will look at the applicable law to see whether the case warrants a retrial”.
Facts of the case
The case as presented to the court by the prosecution was that on March 2013 about 8:00 p.m., Sewura, together with four other guards of the same division went to the Kyabobo National Park on their normal patrol duty.
About 8:30p.m., the team heard the sound of a gunshot at Tokuro, a section of the park, and followed it up to find out who had entered the park.
Patrolling the area till the next day, they reportedly found a red flunk duiker killed by a gunshot and kept under a tree in the park. The guards therefore laid ambush to find the culprit.
When it was around 9:00 a.m. the same day, Muniru emerged at the scene with a single-barrelled gun, carrying two species of animals in his hunting bag and picked the duiker.
Sewura, who was the leader of the patrol team, confronted and attempted to arrest Muniru but he allegedly shot the deceased at close range, killing him on the spot.
Muniru took to his heels and was pursued by the other guardsmen who eventually arrested him.
The prosecution called three witnesses, including the investigator, to prove their case.
Accused
The accused admitted going to the reserve illegally but denied the offence of murder claiming it was one of the guards on duty with Sewura who shot him while he tried to escape arrest.
Mr Muniru, in evidence, explained that when he heard the command from Sewura to surrender, he abandoned his gun and ran away. It was later when he was arrested by the guards that he got to know Sewura had been killed.