A Kumasi High Court 2 presided over by Justice Jacob Boon has sentenced a 23-year-old native of Bolgatanga in the Upper East region to death by hanging. The court slammed the punitive sentence on Yaaba Zah, after the seven-member jury instituted for the trial unanimously found the convict guilty of murder. After attentively hearing the submissions of the jurors, the presiding judge pronounced the death sentence by hanging on the convict who stood trial for murder. As per the facts of the case presented by Richmond Osei-Hwere, a State Attorney in Kumasi, on the morning of March 22, 2009, the convict picked a quarrel with his step-brother, Timbillah Frafra, at their residence at Tafo, a suburb of Kumasi. He disclosed that some good Samaritans appeared on the scene and separated the two but the convict, in the afternoon of that fateful day, restarted the quarrel. Mr Osei-Hwere stated that in the process, the convict hit the deceased, 25, in the head with a hammer and club, resulting in his instant death. After killing the deceased, Mr. Osei-Hwere noted, the convict rushed to the residence of their family members and reported the incident to them. Their family members, the State Attorney noted, reported the matter to the Tafo Police who quickly arrested the convict. He indicated that the convict, in his statement to the police, admitted murdering his step-brother but denied it when he was subsequently arraigned in court. Mr. Osei-Hwere said the convict denied the allegation on the basis that he was not conversant with the Twi language, hence his admittance to the crime at the police station. He pointed out that the case had been pending at the court for a while because the prosecution had to produce witnesses to tend in their evidence. Post-mortem examination conducted by pathologists at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Mr. Owsei-Hwere indicated, pointed to the fact that the deceased died as a result of severe head injuries. The presiding judge, who followed with keen interest the commentary of all the seven-member jury that insisted that the convict was liable for the offence, then pronounced the sentence on the convict. Source: Daily Guide/Ghana