Tamale Court sentences ‘jealous rival’ to death

A Tamale High Court Presided over by Mr. Justice Charles Gyamfi Danquah has sentenced one Zelia Sulemana to death by hanging for murder.

The convict murdered Rawdia Aminu, a student nurse an ex – girlfriend of one Alhassan Abdul -Rahman who is the current boyfriend of the Convict.

Even though the relationship between the deceased and Abdul- Rahman ended before he met the Convict, there was still bad blood between the deceased and Abdul – Rahman for which Abdul -Rahman indicated that he will make his girlfriend beat up the deceased.

The convict later befriended the deceased deceiving her that she was also interested in becoming a nurse. The deceased went with the Convict to her home and introduced her to her parents as her newly found friend. On 11th April, 2014, the deceased was home when the convict called her that she was outside her house and wanted to see her and the deceased obliged her. When the deceased went out, she was accosted by the Convict who queried her about her relationship with her boyfriend which resulted in an argument.

The convict without any provocation stabbed the deceased twice; in the chest and abdomen and the deceased fell down unconscious. The convict made an attempt to flee from the scene on a motor bike but she was restrained by a Good Samaritan. Upon realizing that she could not escape from the scene, the Convict slashed her hand claiming that it was the deceased who inflicted the knife wounds on her. Both the deceased and the convict were rushed to the Hospital for treatment but the deceased died soon after being admitted for treatment. Post-mortem conducted on the body of the deceased revealed that the deceased died of “hemorrhagic shock, massive left haemothorax and punctured wound to the left chest wall”.

At the end of the case the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty on her. The presiding judge ordered a pregnancy test to be conducted on the Convict in view of the fact that the offence carries the death penalty. The pregnancy test however proved negative.