Kwame Tuffuor and Evans Asare aka Body, both drivers, and Richmond Bio aka Burkina, a farmer, were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and murder.

A video clip making rounds on social media shows Kwame Tuffuor confessing to using cement block to hit the head of Major Mahama as he lay in a pool of blood already.

“I was carrying wood when I heard that a thief had been caught, so I rushed to the place to watch. When I got there, he had already been killed so I hit his head with a cement block,’’ Tuffuor stated in the video.

In all, 44 people, including six women, have so far been arraigned before court and charged with the murder of the military officer.

Seven persons, including the assembly member of Denkyira Obuasi, William Baah, and 34 others have already been remanded in custody by the Cape Coast District Court and the Accra Central District Court, respectively.

Denial

During their appearance at the court, Bio raised his hand to speak and when he was given the opportunity, he denied being part of the group of people who killed Major Mahama.

“I don’t know anything about the soldier’s death. I was at Denkyira Obuasi for my mother’s funeral and I was not at the place where he was killed,’’ Bio said.

The presiding magistrate, Mr Ebenezer Kweku Ansah, told the accused person to exercise patience because the police had stated that investigations into the case were still ongoing.

“At the appropriate time, if police investigations reveal that what you are saying is true, you will be exonerated,’’ the presiding magistrate said.

Remand

The prosecutor, Detective Inspector Simon Apiosornu, prayed the court to remand Tuffuor, Asare and Bio in custody because investigations were still ongoing.

He told the court that a remand would also enable the police to reconcile the dockets of the three accused and that of other 34 accused persons charged for Major Mahama’s death on May 29, 2017.

The court acceded to the request of the prosecution and remanded the three into police custody to reappear on June 21, 2017; the same day the 34 other accused would reappear before the court.

Facts

The facts, as presented by Inspector Apiosornu, were that Major Mahama was the Commander of a military detachment stationed at Diaso in the Upper Denkyira West District in the Central Region to check illegal mining activities.

At 8 a.m. on May 29, 2017, Major Mahama wearing civilian clothes but with his sidearm, left his detachment base for a 20-kilometre jogging.

Inspector Apiosornu said at 9:25 a.m., the military officer got to the outskirts of Denkyira Obuasi, where a number of women were selling foodstuffs by the roadside.

He stopped to interact with the women and even bought some snails, which he left in their custody to be taken upon his return from jogging.

While he was taking out money from his pocket to pay for the snails, the woman from whom he had bought the snails and a few others saw Major Mahama’s sidearm tucked to his waist.

Soon after he left one of the women telephoned the assembly member for Denkyira Obuasi to report what they had seen.

“Without verifying the information, the assembly member mobilised the 34 accused persons and others now at large to attack the military officer,’’ the prosecutor said.

The mob met major Mahama near the Denkyira Obuasi cemetery and, without giving him the opportunity to explain and identify himself, “attacked him with implements such as clubs, cement blocks and machetes, killed him and burnt a portion of his body,” Inspector Apiosornu told the court.