The High Court in Accra has convicted a retired military officer, Joseph Abusah, and a pastor, Benjamin Kofi Agbetiafah, for conspiracy and manslaughter following a violent incident sparked by a misunderstanding over an alleged fake GH₵50 note that resulted in the death of 32-year-old taxi driver, Solomon Dapaah.

A seven-member jury returned a 5–2 majority verdict on the charge of conspiracy and a unanimous guilty verdict on the substantive charge of manslaughter.

Presiding as an additional High Court judge, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, sentenced both men to six months’ imprisonment each on both counts, to run concurrently.

Background of the Case


According to the prosecution, the incident occurred on March 1, 2018, at New Abladjei, a suburb of Agbogba in Accra, where both convicts lived.

On that day, Solomon Dapaah drove to a provisions shop owned by Comfort Agbetiafah, the mother of the second accused, Benjamin Agbetiafah. Dapaah purchased a 7-litre bottle of Fanta for GH₵10 and paid with a GH₵50 note.

After giving him GH₵40 as change, Comfort suspected the note was fake and raised an alarm after the taxi had driven away.

Joseph Abusah and Benjamin Agbetiafah pursued the taxi in a Nissan pickup truck and eventually blocked it at the outskirts of New Abladjei. While one passenger escaped, Dapaah became trapped in a barbed-wire fence while attempting to flee.

The court heard that the two men pulled him out, beat him severely during a struggle, tied his hands and legs with a nylon rope, and transported him in the back of the pickup truck to the Agbogba Police Station to lodge a complaint.

Police officers, noticing his swollen face and blood coming from his mouth, rushed him to the Agbogba Clinic, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

A post-mortem conducted at the Police Hospital in Accra by a pathologist confirmed that Dapaah died from severe head injury and lynching, an unnatural cause of death.

Mitigation and Prosecution Arguments


Defence counsel pleaded for leniency, describing the convicts as first-time offenders who had been consistent in court for nearly nine years and had already spent six months on remand.

The lawyer also highlighted their personal circumstances, noting that Abusah is elderly and that Agbetiafah is a pastor with an aged 73-year-old mother.

However, the State Attorney, Yvonne Adomako‑Yarchie, urged the court to focus on the aggravating nature of the offence, arguing that the sentence should deter others from engaging in mob justice and unlawful violence.

She stressed that justice must also consider the interests of the deceased’s family and society at large.

Court’s Decision


In delivering the sentence, Justice Osei Marfo said the court carefully balanced the mitigation factors against the seriousness of the offence.

She noted the accused persons’ good conduct throughout the trial, their regular court attendance from 2018 to 2026, their status as first-time offenders, and the time already spent on remand.

At the same time, the court strongly condemned mob justice, describing it as unacceptable and harmful to the rule of law.

Considering the nearly nine-year duration of the case, the judge concluded that a concurrent six-month sentence on both counts was appropriate, bringing the long-running trial to a close.