Mobila murder trial - Two to serve 30 years in prison
The Accra Fast Track High Court has sentenced Corporal Yaw Appiah to 10 years in prison with hard labour for the death of Alhaji Issah Mobilla, a former Northern Regional Chairman of the Convention People’s Party (CPP).
Advertisement
Another accused person who is currently on the run, Private Seth Goka, was also sentenced to 20 years in absentia.
Corporal Appiah has been on remand for the past eight years.
The judge, Mr Justice Mohammed Habib Logoh, in summing up on the law and evidence regarding the charge and base on which his verdict was passed before a seven-member jury Monday, said even though the accused person acted on the instruction of his superior to mistreat Alhaji Mobilla, he was not bound to obey.
He said the accused could have treated the deceased with more circumspection but the pathologist’s report revealed that Alhaji Mobilla was sent to the hospital dead and that he died from multiple wounds.
Justice Logoh said in view of the evidence adduced against them, there was no doubt that the accused persons intentionally beat up Alhaji Mobilla and that the harm to him was unlawfully caused.
After being presented a summary of the evidence, the jury after a brief consultation, returned to the court and unanimously agreed that the accused person be charged with manslaughter based on which the judge issued the prescribed sentence.
Before passing sentence the judge asked Corporal Appiah if he had something to say but Mr Thaddeus Sory, counsel for the accused, stood on his feet and said the circumstances that led to the death of Alhaji Mobilla was unfortunate and that the events at that time were volatile.
He pleaded with the judge to take that into account when passing sentence.
Alhaji Mobilla was arrested by the police on December 9,
2004 for allegedly supplying the youth in Tamale with guns to foment trouble.
While in custody, the police claimed they received information that his
followers and sympathisers were mobilising to free him.
The deceased was consequently transferred from the police cells to the Kamina
Military Barracks and handed over to the three accused persons.
According to the prosecution, Alhaji Mobilla died in military custody three
hours after he had been handed over to the accused persons, who were on duty
that day.
The three soldiers were first arrested in July 2005 in
Tamale and sent to a Tamale High Court.
The soldiers were stationed at the Sixth Battalion of Infantry, Kamina Barracks
in Tamale, were charged with conspiracy to murder and causing murder.
A Tamale District Court, presided over by Madam Angelina Mensah-Homia,
committed them to stand trial when they first appeared before her on June 9,
2005.
At the Tamale District Court, the Prosecutor, Mr Abdul Quddus, Assistant State
Attorney, told the court that in the early hours of Thursday, December 9, 2004,
there was sporadic shooting at Werizhi, a Tamale suburb, where the deceased
lived.
He said upon a tip-off that Alhaji Mobila had supplied the arms and ammunition
allegedly used by some youth in Tamale to foment trouble in the Metropolis
during the aftermath of the December 2004 general election, the Northern
Regional Police Command detailed policemen to arrest him at his residence.
According to the persecutor the Police however, did not find the deceased at
home but saw and followed an ash BMW saloon car with registration number GR
2772 Q belonging to the deceased, heading to a workshop.
The prosecutor said the Police then conducted a thorough
search on the car but nothing incriminating was found whereupon they escorted
the vehicle driven by one Abdallah Osman, a mechanic, to the Police
Headquarters in Tamale.
On the same day when the late Alhaji Mobila realised that the Police had
impounded his car, he went to the Northern Regional Bureau of National
Investigations (BNI) in the company of one Abdul-Latif Saka-Naa, a friend, to
find out why his car had been impounded.
The BNI however,
handed over Alhaji Mobila to the Northern Regional Police Command who took him
to the Police Headquarters where he was detained.
Following allegations that supporters of the deceased were mobilising to rescue
him, the Regional Security Council ordered that the suspect should be sent to
the Kamina Barracks to be detained there.
Hours later the Police received information that the deceased had collapsed and died in military custody.
Story by Sebastian Syme
