The Sunyani High Court 2 has sentenced a 37-year-old farmer, Solomon Kodua, to 30 years imprisonment in hard labor for slashing the neck of his 33-year-old girlfriend, Comfort Mansa.
The victim, who sustained a deep cut on almost half of her neck involving the entire diameter of the trachea, had to spend four months nursing her injuries after undergoing a surgical operation.
A medical report presented to the court indicated that the victim also sustained a laryngo-tracheal injury, causing her to lose her vocal chords, explaining that a device had to be inserted into her throat to assist her to speak.
Even with the device, the victim could barely be heard when she spoke and was still attending hospital, a Principal State Attorney, Mr Ernest O. Ayeh, told the court.
The convict was jailed after two years of the full trial which began on May 19, 2019 and was presided over by Justice Mr Gabriel Mate-Teye.
The incident happened at Buoyem in the Techiman North District of the Bono East Region.
Sentence
Even though Kodua pleaded for moderation and urged the judge to be lenient, the judge did not heed to his plea.
Mr Mate-Teye said before pronouncing his sentence that considering the recent spate of spousal murders and abuse, the sentence would send a strong signal to the rest of the public to refrain from committing similar crimes in future.
Facts
The facts of the case as presented to the court by the Principal State Attorney, Mr Ayeh, was that Mansa had been the concubine of Kodua for 12 years with three children.
He said the two were not living together as Kodua lived with his father at Buoyem, while the victim also lived with her mother in the same community.
Mr Ayeh said a year prior to the incident, the victim decided to quit the relationship because Kodua was not discharging his obligations of taking care of her and the children.
He said the victim left the children in the care of her aged mother and travelled to do petty trading in order to have something to take care of them.
He explained that on November 5, 2017, the victim returned to the community to visit her family.
Mr Ayeh said on November 25, 2017, the convict, who was on his way to the farm, asked the victim to go and assist his mother to process gari, a request the victim refused to comply with.
He explained that when Kodua returned from the farm in the evening and found out that Mansa did not comply with his request, he got angry and rushed to her house to confront her.
Sharp cutlass
Mr Ayeh said in the course of the confrontation, the convict used a sharp cutlass to inflict a deep cut on Mansa's neck and fled the scene.
He explained that the aged mother of the victim, who was in her room, came out to meet her daughter lying in a pool of blood.
Mr Ayeh said the shouts by the old lady attracted neighbours who rushed to send the victim to the Techiman Holy Family Hospital.
He added that the victim was later referred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital due to the extent and degree of injury sustained.
Fleeing
Mr Ayeh added that the convict, after fleeing the scene, called a witness in the case who was also his friend and told him that he had killed his wife and that he was going to commit suicide.
Mr Ayeh said the witness managed to convince Kodua to rescind his decision and consequently was able to hand him over to the police.