Ebenezer Kwayisi, a mason apprentice, has been sentenced to 30 years imprisonment by the Accra High Court for his involvement in the murder of former University of Ghana law lecturer, Professor Emmanuel Yaw Benneh.
The 28-year-old received the lengthy sentence from Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh after pleading guilty to abetment to manslaughter.
Originally charged with abetment to commit murder, Kwayisi opted to utilize Section 239(2) of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30), reaching an agreement with the prosecution to plead guilty to abetment to manslaughter, a lesser offense.
Under Section 239(2) Act 30, an accused individual may plead guilty to a related offense based on a prosecution agreement. As part of this agreement, the prosecution recommended a 30-year sentence, which the court accepted.
Kwayisi will serve his term in hard labor.
Murder
Professor Benneh was brutally murdered at his residence in September 2020.
During the trial, the main suspect, James Nana Womba, a cleaner at Professor Benneh’s residence, confessed to the murder but died in police custody on October 17, 2020.
According to the prosecution, on September 12, 2020, the deceased was discovered dead in a pool of blood in a corridor leading to his bedroom.
He was found with his hands tied behind him with a white rope and his legs tied with a green rope just below the knees. Additionally, a cloth was partially inserted into his mouth, and there were multiple marks of assault on his face.
The police found a hand glove, a blood-stained white rope, and bloodstains on the walls at the scene.
Confession
Following the discovery, Womba was arrested on September 13, 2020. His fingerprints were taken and compared with those found at the crime scene, revealing identical matches.
