One suspected killer of the 14 persons standing trial for the harsh roles they played in the gruesome murder of the late Major Maxwell Mahama at Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region, Bernard Asamoah, has admitted hitting the deceased with a stone.
The accused, who has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and another count of murder, opened his defense before an Accra High Court yesterday and disclosed to the court that he arrived at the scene where the soldier had been lynched and as part of his attempt to identify the deceased, he hit the lifeless body with a stone.
He had told the court that he was once robbed in the town of his motorbike which he was using for commercial purposes, popularly known as Okada, and he had to halt the business and decided to learn to drive instead.
He said on the day the soldier was lynched, his father had queried him to go to the crime scene to see if he could identify the alleged thief who was caught and beaten as one of the thieves who snatched his motorbike.
“But when we got to the scene there was a crowd there and the body laid on the ground motionless,” he told the court.
He said he could, however, not identify the supposed thief because his face and head were bleeding profusely and he was lying face-down, thereby making his face unidentifiable. “When I got to the scene and saw him motionless and his face unidentifiable, I picked a stone and threw it at him,” he stated.
Asked by George Bernard Shaw, his lawyer why he would throw a stone at the supposed thief, Bernard Asamoah disclosed to the court, “I was going to find out if he was one of those who snatched my motorbike. But when I got to the scene and realized that he was lying on the ground, I picked a stone and threw it at him.”
“After I threw the stone at him, we all moved to stand by the roadside. We were informed that the police were on their way to the scene and anyone seen at the scene would be arrested,” he added.
Background
Major Mahama was brutally lynched in May 2017, while on detachment duties with some military officers in Denkyira Obuasi.
He was the captain of the 31-member military team sent to the town to guard the properties of C&G Mining Company as a result of illegal mining activities in the area.
By Lawrence Odoom