Medical report on Charles Antwi ready
The medical report on the mental state of Charles Antwi, the man who confessed to having the intention of assassinating President John Dramani Mahama, is ready.
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The report, which has been released to the Human Rights Division of the High Court, was prepared by the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.
Also served with the report are the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and the Attorney-General’s (A-G’s) Department.
Disclosing snippets of the report to journalists in Accra on Tuesday, counsel for Charles Antwi, Mr Francis Xavier Sosu, said he was reliably informed that per the report, Antwi had been cured of his mental ailment.
“I am reliably informed that the final report shows that he has been cured,” he said.
Following an order by the Accra High Court, Antwi was placed in the custody of the BNI to enable him to undergo treatment at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.
The move was to forestall any attempt by Antwi to escape from the hospital, since he had a record of having escaped a number of times from a mental treatment facility in the Brong Ahafo Region.
Order
According to Mr Sosu, he is ready to go to court to get an order for Antwi’s release.
“We will, therefore, proceed to apply for a copy of the report from the court to enable us to apply to the court for final discharge so that he can be released to his family,” he said.
Sentence
Antwi was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment by the Accra Circuit Court for illegally possessing a gun, but the sentence was seen to be harsh and attracted lots of criticism.
On August 7, 2015, counsel for Antwi filed a certiorari application at the Accra High Court, invoking the jurisdiction of the court to quash his conviction and sentence.
Counsel argued that the trial court, presided over by Mr Justice Francis Obiri, committed an error in law when he took the plea of the applicant who was incapable of understanding what he was pleading.
The court subsequently quashed the sentence and in granting the certiorari application also ordered Antwi’s immediate release from the custody of the Ghana Prisons Service into the custody of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.
The release was to enable the 36-year-old Antwi to undergo medical examination at the health facility to ascertain the state of his mind.
Background
On July 26, 2015, Antwi was found at the Ringway Gospel Assemblies of God Church at Osu, where President Mahama worships, behaving strangely.
A member of the congregation spotted him and when a search was conducted on him, a locally made pistol and two rounds of ammunition were found on him.
Antwi was subsequently arrested to assist in investigations, in the course of which he admitted ownership of the gun and said he had bought it from a Burkinabe at Nkoranza in the Brong Ahafo Region.
He also confessed to having the intention to kill the first gentlemen of the land.
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