A 55-year-old farmer, Isaac Donkor, who mistook a hunter for a game, shot and killed him, has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and a GH¢600 fine by the Tarkwa Circuit Court.
The farmer, who was charged with negligently causing harm and possessing fire arm without authority, pleaded guilty on both counts.
Superintendent Juliana Essel-Dadzie, prosecuting, said that the complainant, Osman Awuni, was a farmer and brother to Aziz Abukbil, 37, now deceased.
The prosecution told the court, presided over by Mrs Hathia Ama Manu, that Awuni, Abukbil and Donkor lived at Timtimhwe, a community along the Tarkwa-Bogoso Highway, in the Western Region.
Sup Essel-Dadzie said Abukbil went on a hunting expedition in a bush on the outskirts of Timtimhwe, but never returned.
The prosecution said the next day, when the family, elders and youth of the community mounted a search for the hunter, they found Abukbil dead in the bush at Timtimhwe with gunshot wounds on his face and arms.
Sup Essel-Dadzie said the search party reported the incident to the police at Bogoso, and police, who were dispatched to the scene, inspected the body and conveyed it to the mortuary for preservation and autopsy.
The court heard that while investigation was ongoing, Donkor reported himself to the police at Bogoso, confessing that he killed Abukbil with his unregistered CBC single barrel shotgun during a hunting expedition.
Sup Essel-Dadzie said Donkor was arrested and detained to assist the police in investigations.
Prosecution said on that fateful day, around 3pm, Donkor went for hunting and in the process saw an animal in the form of a rat ‘Odompo,’ shot it and went closer to take the animal, only to realise that he had killed Abukbil with his CBC single barrel shotgun.
Sup Essel-Dadzie said Dr Frederick Yaw Sarpong, the Medical Superintendent of Tarkwa Municipal Hospital, who performed a postmortem examination on the body of Abukbil, indicated that the victim died of “traumatic head injury.”
The court heard that the CBC single barrel gun, which was retrieved from Donkor, was forwarded to the Police Forensics Laboratory in Accra for examination.
Sup Essel-Dadzie said the report indicated that the gun was found fired with residue in the barrel.
He said Donkor was arraigned at the Prestea District Magistrate’s Court and charged with murder.
His plea was not taken and he was remanded in prison custody at Tarkwa.
The court, in its ruling, ordered that the CBC single barrel shotgun should be destroyed at the premises of the Tarkwa Circuit Court. —GNA