The Bolgatanga High Court 1 has sentenced Solomon Zina to ten (10) years imprisonment for manslaughter.
The jury trial of Solomon Zina started in 2018 where he was charged of murder following the death of Yin Kokyen, who until his death was a 33 years old farmer and a native of Santeng, a suburb of Tongo in the Talensi district of the Upper East Region.
Mr. Zina was charged for murder under the criminal act, act 2960. Per the act and the evidence available to the court after the investigation the seven (7) man jury was to decide whether Mr. Zina should be convicted of murder or manslaughter.
After about 10 minutes of deliberation, the seven-man jury unanimously agreed that Mr. Zina should be convicted of manslaughter.
The trial judge, Justice Charles Adjei Wilson in his ruling accordingly sentenced Solomon Zina to 10 years imprisonment. Mr Zina, at the time of his arrest was a 28 years old.
Below are the Brief Facts about the case.
BRIEF FACTS : Deceased Yin Kokyen until his death was a farmer aged 33 yrs a native of Santeng, a suburb of Longo in the Talensi District. He lives with his father and the accused person. The accused Solomon Zina who is the nephew to the deceased is a student of the Salvation Army J.H.S/ Tongo.
On 28/04/2018 at about 6:00 am, the accused person wore his new canvass to the bush to locate a portion of land to farm when the rains set in. On 29/04/2018 at 6:00am, the deceased confronted the accused person about the canvas he wore to the bush.
This however resulted into a fight between them. Witness Prince Yinnit who was in the house that morning, separated the fight between them after which he left for work and the accused person also went to town and came back home at about 3:30 pm and sat under a tree in front of the house.
The deceased on seeing the accused person in the house rekindled their light again. The complainant who went to town returned to the house and met them fighting so he separated the fight between them but the deceased sustained some degree of injuries and also saw the accused person holding a pair of scissors.
The accused person however left the house while the deceased went to his room but was found dead the same day. At 7:00 pm the same day witness Prince Yinnit came back from work and was greeted with the news about the death of the deceased At 9:00pm same day, the accused person came back home and slept. On 30/04/2018 the complainant lodged a complaint to police and the accused person was arrested.
The body of the deceased was inspected which revealed a swollen head and a stab wound found on his head. There were bruises on the body of the deceased. The body of the deceased was photographed and later conveyed to the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital Morgue for preservation and autopsy.
The accused person in his option statement told Police in the presence of an independent vitne tuit, during the fight, he saw a pair of scissors on the ground so he took it and stabbed the deceased on the head with it Police proceeded to the scene with the accused person where he brought out a pair of scissors from his room as the tool he used to stab the deceased during the fight. The exhibit scissors were taken and kept for evidential purposes. After investigation accused person was charged as per the change sheet
Source:A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|David Azure |Bolgatanga high court|
