There is going to be a lot of stink to come out of this rash decision to sentence someone 48 hours after his arrest when there is even the question of his mental competence to deal with.
A lot of Antwi’s utterances during his kangaroo trial point towards a sort of delusion. He claimed he was supposed to be President after the death of President Mills, and also a lot of the claims in the apparent ‘confession’ seemed quite fishy.
His mum has now come out to say her son is mentally unstable. Speaking to Joy News, Afia Agyapongmaa said her son has been suffering from mental illness for the better part of two years.
The mother of the convict said her son is not well, and that the last they heard of him, he had left Sunyani to Accra to visit his brother.
He had been threatening to kill the president, the mother stated. She said they sent him to a number of prayer camps but did not succeed in healing him.
She was surprised by the decision of the Circuit Court judge to hand Charles Antwi ten years despite the clear indication the suspect was not in the right frame of mind.
That, to me, is the key question. At this point it is not even about Antwi being definitely insane, because his mom could be saying it to save his skin. But he at least should be checked out, especially when it seemed quite apparent due to some of the things he was saying.
Criminal justice can be swift sometimes, but never this swift. What happened is so far from due process it is an embarrassment to whichever judge officiated that trial.
A gunman was arrested by National Security Operatives at the Ringway Assemblies of God Church last Sunday .
The gunman, Charles Antwi, said he was supposed to have been named President after the death of the late President John Atta Mills. He thus said he felt cheated by the President.
He also said he was fed up with the conditions in the country, and thus wanted to assassinate the President. He also said he had gone to the church on three occasions prior, but on all three the President was not around.
He was sentenced to ten years in jail for unlicensed possession of a weapon.