Rainfall spoils plans of soldiers to burn the bodies of judges
Military Major killed alongside three judges
The names of Justices Kwadwo Adjei Agyepong, Poku Sarkodie, and Mrs. Cecelia Koranteng-Addow (a nursing mother), will forever go down in Ghana’s history book although they are more popularly known as the three High Court judges who were murdered on June 30, 1982.
Today marks exactly 40 years since the country was unceremoniously slapped with such a history.
Their murder came together with that of a retired Major in the Ghana Armed Forces, Sam Acquah.
Major Sam Acquah was the Director of Personnel at the Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC) before he was killed.
According to theaccratimes.com, the four were branded ‘enemies of the revolution’ by the then Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), led by the late former President of Ghana, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings.
Roger Gocking’s History of Ghana had explained that the three judges had overturned judgments handed by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC)’s People’s Revolutionary Courts.
It turned out that all three judges were reviewing cases brought to them by aggrieved citizens in connection with the treatment meted out to them by the AFRC junta led by Rawlings after the June 4, 1979, coup.
In the case of Major Sam Acquah, it is reported that his crime was signing letters that led to the dismissal of some agitating workers, including a PNDC member, Joachim Amartey Kwei.
These members were dismissed after invading and destroying property at Ghana’s Parliament house.
On how the three were eventually murdered, it is reported that one Lance Corporal Amedeka, together with Tony Tekpor and Dzandu - all soldiers, took their captives to the Bundase military firing range and executed them.
The plan was for the soldier to cover up their crime by burning the bodies of the judges but luck eluded them when it rained that night, making it impossible for the bodies to fully get burnt.
The video below shows the funeral and burial service of the three murdered High Court Judges.
See it here:
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