The Judge Wants To Please President Mahama With His Hasty 10-Year Sentence - Sir John

Former General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), lawyer Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie believes the judge who sat on President Mahama’s gunman trial at the Accra Circuit Court wants to please the President.

The 36-year-old man who was arrested last Sunday at President John Mahama’s church, Ringway Gospel Centre Assemblies of God, wielding a pistol, has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

Charles Antwi was found during the main service with a locally manufactured pistol which was fully loaded.

In court, he revealed that a military personnel directed him to the President’s church at Ringway.

According to him, he had gone to the church to kill the president but the president was not in church on that day.

He added that on a single occasion that the President showed up in church he (Antwi) did not have a gun.

In his confession, the convict said he was fed up with the “dumsor” situation and had gone to Libya prior to attempting the assassination on the President.

He said he felt cheated by the President Mahama following the death of Prof Atta Mills since he believed he (Antwi) was supposed to be the next president of Ghana.

Reacting to the sentence, lawyer Owusu Afriyie said on Okay FM’s "Ade Akye Abia" Morning Show that the judge should have noticed the inconsistencies in the confession of the accused to have probed further to ascertain the sanity of the accused.

Inasmuch as he is against the assassination attempt on the life of President Mahama, Sir John as he is politically known indicated the haste with which the prosecution was done is meant to please the president.

“When you look at the way the sentence was done in haste without thorough investigation to ascertain the sanity of the accused person [Charles Antwi] person, it looks to me the judge wants to please President Mahama,” he posited.