6 men get 240 days in jail for flogging boy in Enchi palace

Six (6) palace guards have been sentenced to 240 days (40 days each) in jail for brutally flogging a boy in the Omanhene's palace in Enchi in the Western North region.

The six strongmen namely Bulu Adjei 48, Alfred Bany Oboye 49, Kasi Kah 42, Stephen Tannor 34, David Amankwah Adjei 47 and Nana Adu 24 all pleaded guilty to the charges of assault levelled against them by the Enchi Magistrate Court, presided over by His Lordship Eric Baah Boateng on Thursday, August 22, 2019.

As part of the plea, the judge ruled that each person will pay GH₵1,200 to the court and failing to do so will attract an additional 90-day prison term. The court also ruled that each person will pay GH₵1,000 to the victim as compensation for unlawfully beating him.

Background

It would be recalled that a video of some men flogging a boy went viral on social media. In the said video, the victim was seen repeatedly whipped with canes.

The video flooded the online space due to its disturbing nature.

The six men had accused the 27-year-old Stephen Koomson of openly and unfairly denigrating the Omahene of the Aowin Traditional Area, Nana Tannor Bembui II.

They immediately dragged the boy to the chief's palace and 'thought him some lessons', but the law enforcement later identified the six men in the viral video and arrested them.

Press Conference

On Saturday, August 17, 2019, the traditional council held a press conference to disassociate itself from the unexpected incident.

Speaking at the conference, Acting Chief of New Yakasi, Nana Nyamia Payin said the Omanhene has not ordered anyone to be flogging the youth whenever they are seen on the street at night but rather it is the king's ultimate to restore quality education in the Aowin land. According to him, the Omahene was actually not even around in the palace when the said flogging incident occurred.

Meanwhile, when asked whether the chief was around when he was being flogged, Stephen Koomson replied: "yes he was".

Not ordered by Omanhene

The men told the court during the ruling that they carried the act on their own but not on the king's orders. That, however, contradicts Ghanaguardian.com's initial report that the men flogged the innocent boy based orders of the Aowin ruler, Nana Tannor Bembui.

Watch the video below:

Source: Ghanaguardian.com