On Thursday July 1, 1982, the 22nd anniversary of our beloved Republic, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation reported a news item that sounded routine and unnecessary, initially.

All judges, it was announced, were thenceforth to be provided with armed security for their protection. Since the judges already had security protection of some sort, the announcement made little impression on the general population and lawyers. Not even the most sceptical, suspected that behind the news item, was a repugnant episode, the horrible details of which were to unfold later.

Soon it was announced officially that three High Court Judges and a retired Army Officer had been abducted at night during the curfew hours of June 30, 1982. Prayers were offered for their safety.

But the nation’s worst fears became a reality when it was announced that Mr. Justice Fred Poku Sarkodee, Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow and Mr. Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong, all judges of the High Court and Major Acquah, a retired army officer, had been most brutally and savagely murdered on the night of their abduction. This cruel, savage and heartless act occurred at the Bundase Military Range in the Accra Plains.

The bodies of these precious Ghanaians had been soaked with petrol and set on fire. Divine intervention, through a heavy downpour that night, quenched the burning bodies. When discovered, the charred bodies had deteriorated into a state of decomposition.

The nation was stunned. There was swift, widespread and open condemnation by Ghanaians of all walks of life. Pressure mounted on the then military government for a thorough investigation and punishment on the perpetrators.

The Provisional National Defence Council, publicly declaring itself to be horrified by the crime and yielding to the strong public pressure, appointed a Special Investigation Board with a former Chief Justice of Ghana, the Late Mr. Justice Samuel Azu Crabbe, as Chairman, to investigate the murders. The courage and professional expertise of its main investigator, the late Chief Superintendent Jacob Jebuni Yidana, an officer of the Ghana Police Service will go down in the history of Ghana as the qualities that helped produce one of the best criminal investigations ever undertaken in this country. The Special Investigation Board submitted a report, which was published along with a Government White Paper.

The Special Investigation Board made a number of findings leading to the prosecution of Joachim Amartey Kwei, a member of the PNDC, Lance Corporals Samuel Amedeka and Michael Senyah, and two ex-soldiers: Johnny Dzandu and Tonny Tekpor.

During the trial, L/Cpl Amedeka, Dzandu and Tekpor escaped in a jailbreak. Amedeka fled the country but Dzandu and Tekpor were captured and they rejoined the trial. All accused persons were found guilty and sentenced to death. L/Cpl Amedeka was sentenced in absentia. Though L/Cpl Tekpor was also convicted he was not available to face the death penalty because it was alleged that some days before his trial concluded, another Public Tribunal had found him guilty of acts committed in connection with the jailbreak and he had suffered death in the execution of the sentence of that tribunal.

Their monuments stand in the forecourt of the Supreme Court building in constant reminder of the good qualities required of a judge. Judges, magistrates and lawyers will continue to draw inspiration from the bold and courageous manner in which these martyred Judges administered justice in those challenging times.

Source: Judicial Service of Ghana