92-yr-old farmer jailed 6 months for killing son over coconut

The High Court in Sekondi has sentenced a 92-year-old farmer, John Afful to six-months in prison for killing his son who harvested his coconut without permission.

The court said it was giving Afful the lesser sentence because he was frail at his age.

The court heard that the deceased, Erzuah Afful 25, was the son of the John and they both lived at Ayinase in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region.

Presenting the facts, the Senior State Attorney, Mr. George Sackey, said on July 11, 2010, at about 2pm, John went to the nearby coconut plantation at Fia-Ketewa, a village near Ayinase and met the son busy peeling coconuts.

Upon seeing the father, Erzuah took to his heels and left behind the iron bar he was using to pluck the coconut and the sacks. The father picked the items and took them to his cottage.

The son, Erzuah later followed up to the father’s cottage to collect the items unaware that the father was waiting for him patiently with a loaded gun.

On arrival at the residence, he was said to have attempted to sneak into the room to pick the items but the father pulled the trigger and killed him instantly.

Realizing that son had died, John Afful then went to his elder son Stephen Afful, at a distilling camp and briefed him about the incident and sought his assistance in concealing the body.

The Senior State Attorney said the father, then suggested to the elder son that they should dump the body in a nearby river but Stephen suggested that the father should take the lead and quickly sneaked out to alert the police.

Unknown to the father, who was expecting him to come and help him dump the body as planned, the police pounced on him and arrested him.

“The body of the deceased was found with a gunshot wound on the face. An empty cartridge was found within the vicinity and later, a locally manufactured single barrel gun was also retrieved.”

After investigations, John was charged with murder.

During the trial, counsel for John, Mr. Emmanuel Tsibua told the court the deceased was fond assaulting the father and said the shooting was self-defence.

After the six years trial, the jury returned with a verdict of guilty of manslaughter.