<<Print>>

A private legal practitioner, Lawyer Godwin Tamakloe has begged to differ on the position of many lawyers blaming the Accra Circuit Court judge, Justice Francis Obiri for passing judgment on the case involving a gunman [Charles Antwi] without further investigation.

The Accra Circuit Court slapped a 10-year jail term on the man who was arrested for possession of firearms without lawful excuse at the church of President John Mahama last Sunday.

The court passed the judgment after the gunman, Charles Antwi told the judge he carried the gun with the intent to “kill the president”.

But according to the lawyer who was present at the court, the accused person was rather sentenced after pleading guilty for possessing a firearm without lawful excuse and not for his intent to kill President Mahama.

Speaking on Okay FM’s "Ade Akye Abia" Morning Show, Lawyer Tamakloe said the BNI rather brought into the case the intention of the accused person, to add another charge of possibly preparing to kill President Mahama.

To him, that charge if the court has given in to the demand of the BNI could have possibly paved way for the gunman to receive death sentence and not the 10-year slap he got after pleading guilty.

“The question of the gun not being licensed, there was no doubt about it…the court proceeded with the case because the gunman admitted in court to owe the gun and also admitted it is not licensed; he was not sentenced due to his intent to kill President Mahama,” he narrated.

In fairness, the lawyer said he earlier thought the gunman was not normal when he mentioned the late President Mills' name but later got confused when he narrated how he got his gun and the number of times he had tried to kill the President.

He reminded his fellow lawyers following the case to appeal the sentence slapped at the gunman if they feel otherwise; adding that there was no information in court that the gunman was mentally derailed.