The re-trial of murder suspect, Gregory Afoko, the man accused of the alleged murder of a former Upper East Regional Chairman of the NPP, Adams Mahama has began at the High Court in Accra. Mr. Afoko and his accomplice Asabke Alangdi, are being tried jointly for murder according to the Bill of Indictment filed in 2018. Afoko and Asabke are alleged to have poured a substance believed to be acid on the former NPP Regional Chairman on the night of May 20, 2015, leading to his death. A postmortem report on Adams Mahama said he died of shocked lungs and extensive acid burns.
The previous trial of the two ended on April 27, 2023 where a seven-member jury unanimously found Asabke guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. Four jurors found him not guilty of murder and three found him guilty. The then presiding judge Justice Afua Merley Wood sentenced Asabke to death by hanging on the charge of conspiracy. With regards to Afoko, the jury by a 4:3 majority decision found him not guilty of both conspiracy and murder. Justice Wood said the return verdict in respect of Afoko was a hung jury because the panel was unable to reach a decison as required by law and therefore ordered a re-trial. The court heard the testimony of the first prosecution witness, a Pathologist who conducted an autopsy on the late Adams Mahama. In his evidence in Chief the witness Dr Lawrence Adusei said the deceased died from extensive acid burns from unnatural cause. Dr Adusei has since been discharged by the court and the prosecution led by Chief State Attorney Marina Appiah Opare is expected to present its next witness on April 26, 2024.
