DNA on the murder weapon of Commander Mahama available | General news

It appeared that the result of a forensic test performed on one of the weapons allegedly used to lynch Major Maxwell Mahama had been made available to the Attorney General's Office.

According to BSP Baffuor Apenteng Nyamekye, deputy director of operations at IDC headquarters, the 12th prosecution witness in the soldier's murder trial, the test was carried out on a firearm taken from the crime scene.

During cross-examination, the witness answered questions from George Bernard Shaw, counsel for five of the 14 accused.

The lawyer asked if a forensic examination had been conducted to find out who had ever handled the objects used during the lynching.

"We brought the six-inch block and stones to the lab, but we were told that because of the difficult nature, nothing could be done. But the weapon was examined and the result was submitted to the GA. I was not aware of the result, "replied ASP Apenteng.

The witness who led in her testimony in chief Evelyn Keelson, Attorney General, presented in evidence certain instruments that allegedly served to murder the deceased soldier.

The weapons, which included six-inch cement blocks, stones and a metal bar, were presented as evidence after being identified by the witness.

These are the weapons that the defense attorney, Mr. Shaw, asked about whether a forensic test had been done to obtain a DNA from the person who might have used it.

In the meantime, the witness denied defense counsel's claims that the late Major Mahama was killed in a valley.

According to him, the late army officer was reportedly killed behind a mud house "after you crossed a deep channel on high ground. It is also wrong to say that there were only two mud houses. There are many, except that they are a few meters away from each other.

Another defense lawyer, Augustine Gyamfi, asked the witness how the suspects had been arrested and how the prosecution reduced the list to 14 people on trial.

He said that a total of 56 people had been arrested in Denkyira-Obuasi and surrounding areas and taken to Accra. After investigation, the 14 people involved in the crime were charged, while the others were released.

Major Maxwell Mahama was on a 20-kilometer walk when he was mistaken for an armed thief by women whom he had stopped to buy snails.

The women, who thought he was an armed robber after spotting his official gun, would have called the local deputy to sound the alarm.

The deputy allegedly organized people in the city to lynch the soldier and then burned parts of his body.

The hearing continues on July 11th.