Accra, Feb 23, 2026 (Starr FM) – A retired military officer and a pastor have been sentenced to six months in prison by a High Court in Accra for their roles in the death of a man eight years ago, following a dispute over a suspected fake currency note.
Joseph Abusah, a former soldier, and Benjamin Kofi Agbetiafah, a pastor, were found guilty of conspiracy and manslaughter in the death of 32-year-old Solomon Dapaah. The conviction, delivered on Friday, February 20, followed verdicts from a seven-member jury. The jury returned a majority 5-2 guilty verdict for conspiracy and a unanimous guilty verdict for the more serious charge of manslaughter.
Presiding over the case as an additional High Court judge, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo of the Court of Appeal sentenced both men to six months imprisonment on each count. She ordered the sentences to run concurrently, meaning they will serve a total of six months.
The case dates back to March 1, 2018. According to court proceedings, the incident began at a provisions shop in New Abladjei, near Agbogba, owned by the pastor's mother, Comfort Agbetiafah. The deceased, Solomon Dapaah, who was driving a Nissan Micra taxi, stopped at the shop and purchased a bottle of Fanta for 10 Ghana cedis, paying with a GH₵50 note.
After Dapaah received his change of GH₵40 and drove off, the shop owner suspected the 50-cedi note was counterfeit and raised an alarm. Abusah and Agbetiafah then chased after the taxi in a Nissan pickup truck driven by Abusah. They intercepted the taxi at the outskirts of New Abiadjei, blocking its path.
In the ensuing chaos, a passenger in the taxi managed to flee. However, in his attempt to escape, Solomon Dapaah became entangled in a barbed wire fence. The two convicts pulled him free, and during a struggle that followed, they allegedly beat him until he lost consciousness. They then tied his hands and legs with a nylon rope and transported him in the open bucket of the pickup truck to the Agbogba Police Station to file a complaint.
Police officers, upon seeing the victim's swollen face and blood from his mouth, immediately escorted the group to the Agbogba Clinic. Dapaah was, however, pronounced dead on arrival. A subsequent post-mortem examination conducted at the Police Hospital on March 13, 2018, attributed the cause of death to severe head injury and lynching, which was classified as an unnatural manner of death.
In court, the defence counsel pleaded for leniency, noting that his clients were first-time offenders who had consistently attended all court hearings over the eight-year trial period and had initially spent over six months on remand. He also highlighted that Agbetiafah, a newly married pastor, is the caregiver for his 73-year-old mother.
The prosecution, led by State Attorney Yvonne Adomako-Yarchie, urged the court to consider the aggravating circumstances of the case. She argued for a sentence that would serve as a deterrent to others, reminding the court of the lengthy and arduous trial the state had to undergo.
In her sentencing, Justice Osei Marfo acknowledged the mitigating factors, including the convicts' clean records, their diligent court attendance since their arrest in 2018, the six months they had already spent in custody, and the personal circumstances of the two men. However, she also took into account the gravity of the crime—a mob attack resulting in a death—and condemned such acts of instant justice.
Ultimately, the judge balanced the long duration of the trial, the conduct of the accused, and the need for a punitive yet proportionate penalty, handing down the six-month sentence.
