Former General Secretary and 2024 NPP Flagbearer Aspirant, Ing. Kwabena Agyepong, has stated that the harrowing murder of the three High Court judges, one of whom was his father, remains a moment that can never be forgotten.
Reflecting on the enduring pain and the lessons of that tragedy, he called for national healing and reflection, urging Ghanaians to forgive, though not forget, the brutal killings of the judges and a retired military officer 43 years ago.
“Some of these things are sordid history that we have in the past. But let’s pray for forgiveness of sin. We can’t forget, but we should forgive, work together as countrymen” he said.
Speaking on the sidelines to The1957News, at the 2025 Martyrs Day commemoration at the Supreme Court, Kwabena Agyepong who was just 20 years old at the time, recalled the night his father was taken under the guise of attending to Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow who was thought to be unwell. He gave a deeply personal account of the trauma his family endured following the abduction and murder of his father, Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong, on June 30, 1982.
“I mean, it’s very instructive that it’s raining this morning. It was like that on the 30th of June and then the following morning. These things, 43 years ago, were a very traumatic experience.”
“I was having dinner with my dad at the dinner table around 9 o’clock PM. In those days, there was a curfew when he was called out. We were not to know that he was being kidnapped. He was just being called to attend to a fellow judge, Cecilia who was thought to be unwell. And then only to discover in the morning that he never came back.” he narrated
Justice Agyepong, along with Justices Fred Poku Sarkodee, Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, and Major (Rtd) Sam Acquah, were abducted during a curfew and executed at the Bundase Military Shooting Range in the Accra Plains. Their charred bodies were later discovered, sparking national outrage and decades of grief for their families and the country’s legal community.
Kwabena Agyepong emphasized the need for continued national unity and safeguards for judges “I think it’s a time for sober reflection, as all Ghanaians. We should learn lessons from some of these things and make sure that those who deliver justice are not exposed to these dangers.”
Since the 1982 incident,
June 30 has been set aside as Martyrs Day, a day of remembrance for the slain judges and Major Acquah. The day is marked annually with a wreath-laying ceremony at the forecourt of the Supreme Court, where busts of the victims stand in honor of their sacrifice to the rule of law.
Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong, one of the revered victims, was serving as a High Court Judge when he was targeted. The cold-blooded murders, carried out under the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) regime, marked a grim point in Ghana’s democratic journey. The perpetrators were later tried and convicted, but the trauma remains etched in Ghana’s national conscience.