A third prosecution witness in the trial of Gregory Afoko, Mr Azigri Quinn, yesterday confirmed to the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court that the late Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Mahama Adams, told a close associate that it was Afoko and an accomplice who caused his death.
Mr Quinn said while lying in his hospital bed on the day he was attacked, the deceased told Taufik, a friend, in the presence of his (Mahama) widow and nurses that Afoko and Asabke Alandi were the ones who poured suspected acid on him.
He gave these answers when he was being cross-examined by the defence counsel, Mr Yaw Sarfo Buabeng, who told him that on no occasion did the deceased tell Taufik that it was Afoko and Asabke who killed him.
Previous testimony
On July 4, 2017, Mr Quinn, who is Mr Adams’s neighbour and is said to have conveyed Adams to hospital after the acid attack on him, took to the witness stand for the second time to give his evidence-in-chief.
He told the court that while on his hospital bed, Adams had told someone, whose name he gave only as Taufik and his (Mahama’s) wife, Hajia Zainabu Adams, that he knew he would die and that if he died, it was Afoko and Asabke Alandi who had “done this to him”.
At the hospital, he stated, he tried calling Taufik on phone but could not get through to him.
Not long after, he said Taufik came to the hospital and Mr Adams told him and his wife who had harmed him.
Charges
Afoko, a farmer, together with Asabke Alangdi, who is now at large, have been accused of allegedly pouring a substance suspected to be acid on Mahama Adams in front of his (Mahama’s) residence in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.
Afoko has consistently maintained his innocence and has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
‘I did not know Taufik’
Responding to the defence counsel’s cross-examination, Mr Quinn said when he first met the deceased on the day he was attacked, he was in great pain and that he was still in great pain as of the time he (Quinn) was leaving the hospital.
He agreed with the lawyer for Afoko that throughout the period he was at the hospital, Mr Adams remained in bed.
However, he denied the assertion of Mr Buabeng that Mr Adams became unconscious by the time he got to the hospital, saying that, “no, the deceased was not unconscious. If he was unconscious, he could not have mentioned Taufik’s telephone number.”
He said the deceased mentioned Taufik’s number to him and he used a doctor’s mobile phone to reach Taufik but the call went unanswered and did not know how he (Taufik) went to the hospital.
He also answered in the affirmative that he did not know Taufik personally until the day Mr Adams requested him to call him.
The court adjourned the trial to October 25, 2017.
Source: Graphic.com.gh