The afternoon of 24th of January, 2024 was a sombre one in the heavily guarded courtroom of the High Court which delivered the judgment and sentence of the accused coup plotters in the case of REPUBLIC v DR. MAC-PALM [deceased] and 9 ORS. The High Court constituted by three Justices of the Superior Court presided by the respected Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe J.A were fixed with the duty of pronouncing judgment and a possible sentence of death on nine persons who have been tried over the space of roughly four years for the offence of Treason and High Treason and Conspiracy to commit Treason and High Treason.

The venue was the Financial and Economic Division of the High Court. The court was engaged in the delivery of a judgment which span over 3 hours. The judgment and conviction was read to a heavily packed courtroom with some family relations, the media and security personnel on the corridors of the courtroom waiting in palpable anxiety for the judgment of the court.

The sombre and tensed atmosphere in the courtroom dissipated into that of joy by family, lawyers and well wishers of A.C.P Benjamin Agordzo and two others who were found not to be guilty for treason charges they were tried for. They were thus acquitted and discharged.

This joy was however not shared by 6 others who were found to be guilty for the charges of treason against them. The 6 include; Warrant Officer II Esther Saan Dekuwine, Corporal Seidu Abubakar, Johannes Zikpi, civilian employee of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Donyo Kafui, alias Ezor, who is a blacksmith and Bright Alan Debrah, fleet manager. Their fate and emotional state as well as that of their family and lawyers eroded to plain misery and sorrow when the court returned after a short rise to sentence them for the conviction of the crimes they were tried for. The words of the court in sentencing was piercing. The wife of one of the convicted could not help but blurt out the pain in hearing the sentence through a loud scream. She broke down uncontrollably into tears after the court rose.

The words of the court in the voice of the Presiding Judge in sentencing the guilty were as pictured below;

In a sombre mood and voice, Her Ladyship Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe added after reading the sentence; "May God have mercy on your souls."

The court rose and the courtroom assumed a busy look as it was when the court earlier rose for sentencing. Lawyers for the accused persons led by the learned Victor Kwadjoga Adawudu and Martin Kpebu consoled the accused with the possibility of their death by hanging never occurring as Presidents have failed to sign of warrants for the executions of convicted persons since 1992. The words and gestures of consolation and encouragement were not enough to stop some family relations from further shedding tears for the harsh reality of losing a family relation.

Security operatives cleared the room leaving behind the convicted and sentenced Coup plotters. They were handcuffed and marched to cells of the BNI for onward serving of their sentences. Dr. Benjamin Agordzo did not exclude himself from the soiree of consolation and encouragement as pictured below in red trousers and white shirt with red and blue strips.

The courtroom was emptied after convicts were marched guarded by police and NIB undercover operatives to detention for onward transportation to prison awaiting death by hanging. See video of their escort away from the courtroom below: