A jealous 60-year-old Ghanaian man, Doe Fianu, who killed his wife by shooting her in the genitals and head, has been handed a 20-year sentence by the court.
Fianu had committed the act in a moment of anger after he caught his wife, Grace Yorke Torku, receiving a call from a man in 2023.
He confronted her, and an argument ensued. The angry husband went in to fetch his illegal firearm and shot Torku in her private parts and head in the presence of their four-year-old son.
She died instantly. The police later arrested Fianu. He was charged with murder and illegal possession of a firearm.
Fianu had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, willing to fight them with the help of his lawyers.
However, when the case came up again at the High Court in Accra on Wednesday, July 16, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and illegal possession of arms.
He had apparently engaged in a plea bargain with the prosecution for him to concede to the lesser charges. This was to enable him to get lighter sentences than life imprisonment if his attempt to defend himself against murder failed.
Upon his change of plea, Justice Kizita Naa Koowa Quarshie convicted him of both counts.
The prosecution’s lead counsel, Winifred Sarpong, asked for a 30-year sentence for the convict, considering the traumatic effect of his action on the couple’s child.
The defence counsel, Bernard Obiri Koranteng, however, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy.
He emphasised that the convict was a first-time offender who only allowed his emotions to get the better of him.
Justice Quarshie, in his judgment, said he took judicial notice of the mitigating argument pushed forward by the defence counsel.
He noted that it was also in the favour of the convict that he decided not to waste the court’s time by pleading guilty.
He then gave him 20 years in jail.
