Factory hand to serve life imprisonment for stabbing man to death

An Accra High Court has sentenced Michael Tetteh, aka Brother, a factory hand, to life imprisonment for his involvement in the death of 19-year-old Patrick Gyasi.

This was after a seven-member jury unanimously returned a verdict of guilty on Tetteh, now aged 26.

He wept uncontrollably as he was escorted to a waiting police vehicle to begin his sentence.

Tetteh stabbed his colleague to death with a broken bottle during a fight at Oduman in the Greater Accra region on June 16, 2017.

The prosecution, led by Opanin Yena, a senior attorney, called four witnesses to establish the charge of murder against Tetteh.

The convict also called a witness to testify on his behalf.

He would have been sentenced to death, but Ghana, through the Act of Parliament, has amended the death penalty and reduced it to life imprisonment.

Tetteh claimed that the death of Patrick was a mistake and not intentional.

Okyere Kumah, defence counsel for Tetteh, held that there were inconsistencies in the evidence of the prosecution in relation to the exact spot where the victim, now deceased, was stabbed.

Before sentence was passed by the trial judge, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, defence counsel told the court to consider the fact that his client was a young offender.

He held that his client was 18 when the offence was committed and that his client should have been tried under the Juvenile Justice Act, adding that he should have been sent to the juvenile court for sentencing.

The court, however, disagreed with him, saying that the instant case did not fall under those that should have been dealt with by the juvenile court.

The case of prosecution was that Jethro Kofi Motho, the complainant, was an unemployed resident of Oduman near Amasaman and an elder brother of the deceased.

Prosecution told the court that Tetteh was a factory hand at North Industrial area and he resided at Oduman.

On June 16, 2027, at about 8:00 p.m., the deceased went to Otumfour Nana Drinking Sport to have fun.

The prosecution said that while there, the accused person, now a convict, also visited the spot.

At about 11:00 p.m., the convicted confronted the deceased, asking why he fought with his friend by the name of Sani a week ago.

It said a misunderstanding ensued between them, and they fought and were separated.

The prosecution said that after the act, the convict went home and returned with a bottle concealed in his pocket.

“He spotted the deceased standing in front of the spot. The convict said he had spiritually fortified himself against bottle injury, broke the bottle with his head and used the broken bottle to stab the left shoulder and hand of the deceased,” the court heard.

The court was told that the deceased fell and was rushed to the Oduman Healthcare Centre after the convict had fled the scene.

Prosecution said on June 21, 2017, the accused person was arrested at his hideout at Asuboi in the Eastern Region.