A Bolgatanga high court has sentenced four persons to 20 years’ imprisonment each for conspiracy to commit crime and causing unlawful harm by cutting off the penis of a man (complainant).
The four are Moses Teng, Kofi Sampadzi, Elishha Awuni and Comfort Tikana.
The court also gave Moses Teng an additional 20-year jail term to run concurrently with the first 20 years, for cutting off the penis of one James.
It would be recalled that on August 23, 2013, Moses Teng and his accomplishes attacked one James, then a student of the Gbewa College of Education in Pusiga, and cut-off his penis as punishment for dating his (Teng’s) wife.
Moses Teng, who hails from Tongo in the Upper East Region, is said to have been accompanied by his accomplices to Pusiga.
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 call and later told James that she wanted to attend to nature’s call. Just as she left, Moses Teng surfaced and poured an unknown liquid on James and soon engaged him in a fight. Moses, seeing how tough his victim was, called for help, and two of his accomplices rushed to his aid and he (Moses Teng) cut off James’ penis and ran away.
Later, one of the accused, Kofi Sampadzi, was arrested by a mob and handed over to the police, while Moses Teng and the two others escaped to Tongo. Comfort Tikana went back to the Gbewa College of Education campus and was arrested and handed over to the police. The victim was rushed to a private clinic for treatment.
Delivering Judgement, 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 severer prison sentence to serve as deterrent to others.
He said Moses Teng on the other hand, could not argue on extreme provocation or claim self-defence since he was the first to attack his victim (James) and was later assisted by his accomplices. 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.
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