The four were arrested in 2013 after they ambushed one James then a student of Gbewaa College of Education for going after the girlfriend of one of the accused persons Moses Teng.
The four are Moses Teng, Kofi Sampadzi, Elishha Awuni and Comfort Tikana.
The court also gave Teng an additional 20-year jail term to run concurrently with the sentence.
It would be recalled that on August 23, 2013, Teng and his accomplices attacked James and cut-off his penis as punishment for dating his (Teng's) wife.
Teng, who hails from Tongo in the Upper East region, is said to have been accompanied by his accomplices to Pusiga to commit the act.
Comfort on the other hand, was allegedly tasked with the responsibility of engaging the victim (James) in a conversation at the Gbewa Primary School.
While there, she was said to have received a phone call and later told James that she wanted to attend to nature's call.
Just as she left, Teng appeared and poured an unknown liquid substance on James and soon engaged him in a fight.
Teng, seeing how tough James was, called for help and two of his accomplices rushed to his aid enabling him to cut off James' penis after which they bolted.
Later, one of the accused, Sampadzi, was arrested by a mob and handed over to the police, while Teng and the two others escaped to Tongo.
Comfort was later arrested at the Gbewa College of Education campus.
The victim was rushed to a private clinic for treatment.
Delivering Judgment, Justice Francis Poku said there were inconsistencies in the statements presented by the accused persons.
The Judge added that if he had his own way, Comfort Tikana would have been given a severe prison sentence to serve as a deterrent to others.
He said Teng on the other hand, could not argue on extreme provocation or claim self-defence since he was the first to attack his victim
A fifth accused person is still on the run.
Counsel for the accused persons, Joseph Kpemka, pleaded with the judge to consider the number of years his clients had already spent in custody while the case was ongoing.
He pleaded for mercy for Comfort who is a nursing mother, but the judge described the accused persons as insensitive, callous and barbaric, and therefore deserved the sentences.
Credit: Starrfmonline
No comments:
Post a Comment