The family of the late Lily Donkor, former student of Achimota School who was shot to death by her colleague student said to be her boyfriend has indicated they’ll appeal the court decision ordering the release of the accused.
The Criminal division of Accra High court presided over by Justice Kofi Dorgu, on Monday ordered the release of the accused, Gerald, as his trial exceeded the 6 months period as stipulated in the Juvenile Act.
The court therefore ordered that the judgement by the Juvenile court be quashed and the accused be discharged.
The 17-year-old convict was found guilty for manslaughter by the Accra Juvenile court for shooting to death Lily Donkor on January 4, 2017.
He is said to have gone for his father’s gun which was under a bed with the intent of shooting in the air, but ended up killing his girlfriend Lily Donkor who had visited him.
But Spokesperson for Lily Donkor’s family, Peggy Ama Donkor in an interview with Kasapa News stated that the family is unhappy with the court order and will appeal the ruling to ensure justice is served them.
“We strongly disagree with the court ruling and the law allows us to appeal the ruling and we’ll do exactly that. As a family we’re shocked by the court’s decision, two reasons were given by the court in arriving at its decision. The court claims the accused person’s trial went beyond 6 months, we strongly reject that. The constitution clearly states that when a juvenile is before a court, we start counting 6 months period from the day he/she starts attending a juvenile court and not a district court. The District Court was the first place the boy went to, the second was the Juvenile court. When he started attending the Juvenile Court it was not up to 6 months before the sentence was given. So we don’t accept this ruling.
“Secondly, the Court said there should have been a social inquiry report which would tell the behavior of the accused person, the frame of mind he was in, when he fired the gun. We’re saying that if he wasn’t in a good frame of mind, how could he write his exams. After killing Lily, he went ahead and wrote his WASSCE. So we reject these two charges, we’ll liaise with the Attorney General to appeal the ruling since he conducts criminal trials on behalf of the state.
Peggy Ama Donkor added that the killing of Lily will continue to haunt the accused (Gerald) even if his family tries to fly him abroad as has been speculated and further disclosed that the family of Gerald has not visited Lily’s family after the incident over a year ago.
Source: kasapafmonline.com