Ghana: Sign Writer Remanded

Helena Selby

16 June 2011

An Accra circuit court has remanded into custody a sign writer, for allegedly inflicting cutlass wounds on his fiancée.

The accused person, Samuel Homadi is alleged to have intentionally set their home on fire, inflicted wounds on her fiancée and his brother in-law, and further causing damage to the belongings of his fiancée.

The accused person pleaded not guilty on two counts of use of offensive weapon and one count of causing unlawful damage before the court, presided over by Mr. Eric Kyei Baffour.

The court further ordered that the accused person be referred to the chief psychiatric for examination and be brought back before the court on July 15, 2011.

The details of the facts indicate that sometime in 2009, the accused person decided to marry and so he informed his family for which the family agreed to arrange a family marriage for him.

According to the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Peter Benne, in the course of the year, the father of the complainant and the maternal uncle of the accused person brought the complainant to live with the accused person at Medie, till the proposed customary marriage was contracted between the families.

He said in 2010, the accused person and the complainant relocated to Koleman, however, on the morning of June 8, 2011, a misunderstanding ensued between them over the allocation of housekeeping money but was short-lived.

The prosecutor noted that at about 11:00pm on the same day and while in bed, the accused person sneaked out of bed and sprinkled kerosene all over the room and set it ablaze.

“The complainant’s eleven year brother who was sharing the same room with accused woke up and started screaming for help. The accused picked a cutlass and hit the child with it, inflicting a cut on his left shoulder”, the prosecutor indicated.

ASP Benne noted that the complainant, who was awaken by the noise attempted rescuing her brother but was also attacked and wounded by the accused person, adding that the complainant bled profusely from multiple cuts sustained.

According to him, the complainant then started shouting for help, which made the landlady and other neighbours breaking into the room through the window and putting out the fire.

“The complainant and her brother were rescued and rushed to the government hospital in Amasaman, where the complainant was admitted for treatment and her brother treated and discharged. The accused was then arrested after investigation”, the prosecutor told the court.

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