The Sege District Court, presided over by Her Worship Victoria Akua Ghansah, has sentenced five individuals, including Nene Hakpo Adibuertey Puplampu IV, to three months imprisonment without the option of a fine following their conviction for abetment, conspiracy, and assault in a chieftaincy-related dispute in the Hwakpo community of Ada East.
The case, which began in July 2022, involved a violent altercation between members of two royal families in Hwakpo, the Puplampu and Ackwerh factions. The dispute escalated when the complainants, acting under instructions from their chief, Nene Agbashie Dzikunu Ackwerh III, beat a gongon to announce a communal labor exercise.
Court documents revealed that Nene Hakpo Adibuertey Puplampu IV instructed his associates to seize the gongon from the complainants. This led to an aggressive confrontation, during which the complainants were physically assaulted, with one individual’s shirt torn and marks of assault reported on their bodies.
Accused person Mary Addi was also found guilty of splashing liquid, allegedly urine, on the complainants.
The court convicted Nene Hakpo Adibuertey Puplampu IV and four others for their roles in the incident.
They were sentenced to three months imprisonment on charges of abetment and conspiracy to commit assault, with sentences running concurrently. Addi was fined 150 penalty units or, in default, faces three months imprisonment.
Three other accused persons, Evans Osabutey, Esther Puplampu, and Beauty Puplampu, were acquitted and discharged due to insufficient evidence.
In delivering the judgment, Her Worship Victoria Akua Ghansah noted that the actions of the convicts were unlawful despite ongoing chieftaincy disputes and emphasized the need to curtail such acts of violence within the community.
The court further reminded the convicts of their statutory right to appeal if dissatisfied with the judgment and sentence.
