A Denkyira Obuasi farmer, Kwame Adjei has revealed to an Accra High Court that the late Major Maxwell Mahama begged of him to pick him with his motorbike but he refused because of the gun Major Mahama was holding.
“l told Major Mahama to give me the weapon he is holding, since l was afraid before l will allow him to board my motorbike and also because people were calling him a thief,†he said.
Mr. Adjei was being led by Frances Mullen Ansah, Principal State Attorney, to give his evidence in chief at the trial of the alleged murderers of the late Major Mahama.
The witness who narrated his account to the court said on the day of the incident May 29, 2017, he was by the roadside at Denkyira Oboasi selling fuel.
Mr. Adjei said he saw two motorbikes run past him with the first one being driven by one Yaw Amankwah and the second one also driven by William Baah, the Assemblyman and an accused in the case.
The witness said after that he heard the residents shouting ‘thief, thief.’
According to him, the shouts arose his curiosity and he decided to also move in the direction of the shouting with his motorbike where he met the late Major Mahama along the cemetery road.
Mr Adjei said “when l met the late Major, he begged me to take him away on my motorbike because some people wanted to kill him and while he was pleading with me, l heard a gunshot behind me and when l turned, I saw Yaw holding a gun together with Akwasi Buah, another accused in the case.â€
Mrs. Ansah, further asked the witness, where Yaw and Akwasi were but he said, Yaw’s whereabouts were not known to him.
However, he identified Akwasi among the accused in court.
He said there was an exchange and firing of gunshots between the late Major and Yaw but there was a distance between them and that he was forced to go into hiding while observing until their bullets got finished.
He said after the exchanges, he saw late Major Mahama trying to run away while I went for my motorbike followed him and met him at the Denkyira-Obuasi Junction.
Major Mahama continued pleading for me to carry him but he refused to give me his gun since he was also afraid.
The witness said after their conversation where the late Major Mahama refused to give him the gun he left him at the junction where he (late Major) moved on.
He said after some hours, he saw the Diaso Police personnel drive pass his selling point by the roadside.
Mr. Adjei said he also decided to follow up with his motorbike and when he got to the township of Denkyira Obuasi, the Late Major Mahama was already dead.
Mr. Adjei said it was after the death the same day that words went round that the deceased was a soldier and not a thief.
He said when the residents heard that the deceased was a soldier they started running away for their lives.
“It is at this point that my wife and l also got ourselves prepared and went to our farm to spend the night with the children,†he said.
He said the next day, he asked the wife to send the children to their grandmother while he went into hiding in another village until the chief announced that everybody should return home.
“I was afraid to return, so l reported to the Diaso Police, even though l was not part of the case,†he added.
He said the Diaso Police took his statement, cautioned him and detained him for three days where he was brought to Accra.
Mr. Augustine Obour, Counsel for some of the accused in a cross-examination asked the witness, whether he was, there when the late Major died but he said no.
Mr. Obour asked, “You told the Police you saw an uncountable mob†and the witness said yes, my Lord.
The court presided over by Justice Mariama Owusu adjourned the case to 24th, 25th of July this year for further cross-examination.
Fourteen persons are standing trial at the Accra High Court for the death of the late Major Mahama, an Officer of the 5th Infantry Battalion at Burma Camp was on duty at Denkyira-Obuasi when on May 29 some residents who allegedly mistook him for an armed robber lynched him.
The mob ignored his persistent plea that he was an officer of the Ghana Armed Forces.
The accused are William Baah, the Assemblyman of Denkyira Obuasi, Bernard Asamoah alias Daddy, Kofi Nyarko aka Abortion, Akwasi Baah, Kwame Tuffour, Joseph Appiah Kubi, Michael Anim and Bismarck Donkor.
Others are John Bosie, Akwasi Buah, Charles Kwaning, Emmanuel Badu, Bismarck Abanga and Kwadwo Anima.