The Criminal Division of the Accra High Court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo has handed down death sentences to four men for their involvement in the 2019 kidnapping of two Canadian nationals. According to a Daily Graphic report the convicted individuals are Sampson Aghalor alias Romeo and Elvis Oyema who are Nigerians as well as Yusif Yakubu and Omotayo Aigbe. The court reached the decision following a unanimous guilty verdict returned by a seven member jury on charges of conspiracy to kidnap and kidnapping.
The incident occurred in June 2019 when two volunteers aged 19 and 20 were abducted outside their hostel in the Ahodwo suburb of Kumasi. A Ghana News Agency report states that the victims were rescued by a joint security team led by the National Security and the Bureau of National Investigations after a week in captivity. The prosecution led by Senior State Attorney Winifred Sarpong presented evidence showing the group held the victims in an uncompleted building at Kenyasi Abirem while demanding a ransom of 800000 dollars from their families.
While four individuals were convicted the court acquitted and discharged three other suspects. A report from Citi Newsroom identifies these individuals as Jeff Omarsar and Nasir Mohammed and Safianu Abubakar. Justice Marfo noted that the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove the involvement of these three men beyond a reasonable doubt. The cleared individuals were released immediately after the verdict was pronounced in the courtroom.
Official court records cited by GhanaWeb indicate that the trial lasted for nearly five years during which the prosecution called several witnesses including the victims who testified via video link. The defense counsel for the convicted men argued for leniency but the judge followed the statutory requirement for the charges. Under current Ghanaian law although the death penalty remains on the statute books for certain grave offenses it is frequently commuted to life imprisonment by the executive branch. The convicted men have the right to appeal the judgment within the period mandated by the judicial process.