Ghanaian pastor who murdered wife in the U.S sentenced to life imprisonment

A man who went on trial this week in his wife’s 2020 shooting death has been found guilty of murder and was sentenced to life in prison by an Orange County judge.

Sylvester Ofori, 39, was found guilty of first-degree murder with a firearm in the death of 27-year-old Barbara Tommey, whom he shot several times as she arrived to her shift at the Navy Federal Credit Union on Garden Parks Boulevard the morning of Sept. 8, 2020, according to the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office. The three-day trial wrapped up Thursday.

Ofori was a pastor at Flood Gates of Heaven Ministries in Orlando, police said after the shooting, adding he and Tommey were in the process of filing for a divorce and had been estranged for about three months when the shooting occurred.

According to the office of Orange-Osceola State Attorney Andrew Bain, Tommey’s brother was among nearly a dozen people who testified for the state, including credit union employees and patrons who witnessed the shooting firsthand.

Multiple credit union employees and customers witnessed the shooting. Credit union officials provided Orlando Police detectives with surveillance video. Ofori was seen on video arriving at the credit union and parking his vehicle. He was caught on camera following Ms. Tommey as she ran away from him. The video showed Ms. Tommey frantically knocking on the credit union door and Ofori pistol-whipping and shooting her. He shot her three more times after she fell to the ground.

Orlando Police Department detectives spoke with Ms. Tommey’s family members and co-workers, who verified previous domestic violence incidents between the couple and their recent separation. They also said Ofori threatened to kill the victim two days before the shooting. They positively identified Ofori on the surveillance video. Detectives obtained an arrest warrant and arrested Ofori at his apartment.