Mahama gunman back in court

Francis Xavier Sosu, a human rights lawyer, is heading to court to make a case for the immediate release of Charles Antwi, the man at the centre of the alleged assassination attempt on President John Mahama last year.

According to him, a final report on Charles’ mental state he received last week indicated that he was well.

Sosu, who was briefing journalists on the latest development on the case, was emphatic that Charles was no longer “dangerous to himself or to society” and that he was going to make an application to the court for his final discharge to his family.

He explained that since Charles was well, a copy of the report had been given to the registrar of the court and that the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), per his checks, had also forwarded a copy of the said letter to the Attorney-General’s Department for the necessary action.

Sosu stated that in the next two weeks he intended to make the application for the release of his client.

Charles, 36, dominated the headlines last year when he attended the Ring Way Gospel Assemblies of God Church in Accra on Sunday, July 26, 2015, with a locally made pistol ostensibly to shoot President Mahama.

He was subsequently arraigned before an Accra Circuit Court presided over by Justice Francis Obiri and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for possessing firearms without authority.

The conviction of Charles followed an open confession in court, among other things, that he had to fight to eliminate President Mahama because he was not ruling Ghana properly.

Charles was said to be mentally unstable and that his demeanour should have prompted the judge that he was not of sound mind.

Days after the conviction of Charles, Sosu dashed to the Human Rights Court to file a certiorari application to reverse the conviction, a request the court presided over by Justice Ken A. Okwabi granted.

Justice Okwabi, in setting aside the judgement, said the applicant lacked the capacity to appreciate the charge levelled against him and to plead same, adding that the conviction of the accused was wrong in law.

Sosu was praying the court for a declaration that Charles must be sent to a mental health facility for treatment.

The human rights lawyer also wanted a declaration that the plea of the accused, who was not represented by a lawyer, as taken in the court, was wrongful and a declaration that the holding up of the accused (by the BNI) was unlawful.

Background

Charles, who hails from Dadiesoaba in the Brong Ahafo Region, was found on the premises of the said church fidgeting on the seat he was sitting.

The police alleged that a witness in the case who was in the church spotted Charles, and when a search was conducted on him, the said pistol and two rounds of ammunition were found on him and he was arrested.

The prosecution said in the course of interrogation, Charles admitted ownership of the gun, stating that he bought it from a Burkinabe in Nkoranza, also in the Brong Ahafo Region.