A Justice of the superior courts of Ghana, Justice Helena Inkumsah-Abban, is the recipient of several sms text messages threatening her life and that of her family, amidst disparaging insults. The messages, all traceable to the same mobile phone number, says she is already marked for death, together with her son, (a special needs person) just as her ‘husband died miserably.’ Apparently, the sender of the messages meant them for Justice Henrietta Abban, also a Judge of the superior courts whose name has become commonplace and is the subject of judicial discussions following her trial and conviction of the former CEO of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Tsatsu Tsikata. The sender of the messages, according to Justice Inkumsah-Abban, mentions the incarceration of Tsatsu and alleges that it was done for monetary and other material gains. But whoever is behind the messages also knows Justice Inkumsah-Abban personally, making references to her family life and giving location of her residence. She received the first of the unending messages on Friday after work, which read “Your husband died miserably, your son is daft and always vomiting like an Alsatian dog, and now you went and jailed an innocent man. Very soon you yourself will see the wrath of God.” A second message was to follow in a matter of minutes; “You stupid kangaroo woman. Because of post and money, u sent Tsatsu to prison.” But Justice Inkumsah-Abban said far from being intimidated by the threat, she has a lot of pity for the person who obviously knows her and her family but does not know God. “I’m not hurt in the least, I rather feel great pity for the person because we are the children of God and we are the apple of God’s eye and God has always protected us and God has always defended us so I rather feel greatly sorry for the person because from the moment the person sent the text, he was dealing with God.” She has reported the matter to the police, the Chief Justice and also informed her namesake, Justice Henrietta Abban. Justice Inkumsah-Abban described the turn of events as unfortunate, lamenting that it is only in Ghana that judges are ‘taken to the laundry’ over their work and judgments. She advocated a scrapping of laws from the statute books if they are no longer applicable, to spare judges some of the disparaging commentary, vilification and insults they are subjected to. (Listen to the attached audio in which Justice Inkumsah-Abban speaks to Joy News anchor, Akwasi Sarpong) Author: Isaac Yeboah