Farmer jailed 10 years for manslaughter

Solomon Zina, a native of Santeng in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region, has been convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a ten-year jail term by the Bolgatanga High Court 1 following the death of Yin Kokyen in 2018.

Yin Kokyen, a farmer died in 2018 following injuries inflicted on him after a fight with Solomon Zina. The two had fought over a pair of canvas shoes, resulting in Yin Kokyen getting wounded in the head.

Following a report lodged with the police, Mr Zina was arrested and arraigned before the Court charged with murder in accordance with the Criminal and Other Offences Act( Act 29) of 1960.

After about five years, a seven-member jury returned a verdict that Mr. Zina be convicted of manslaughter given the facts of the matter, paving the way for the judge, Justice Charles Adjei Wilson to sentence Solomon Zina to a ten-year jail term.

Background

Yin Kokyen, a native of Santeng in Tongo, the Capital of the Talensi District, was a farmer of 33 years who lived with his father and the now-convicted Solomon Zina, who was a JHS student.

The two had fought in the morning of March 29, 2018, after Zina had worn Kokyen’s canvas shoes to a nearby bush to inspect his farm and Kokyen asked why he had worn his shoes to the farm the previous day. The fight was witnessed by Prince Yinnit, who intervened to stop the fight.

Later in the evening, the two fought again and were again separated by the witness. But Kokyen sustained injuries inflicted on him by Zina. At about 7 pm, Mr Kokyen was found dead. Yinnit promptly reported the incident to the police the next day and Zina was arrested after the police examined the body of the deceased and found an injury to his head that had swollen.

Zina, during his trial admitted to stabbing the deceased with a pair of scissors and the scissors was brought to Court as evidence.