Ex-Soldier and Pastor Jailed Six Months Each for Manslaughter Over Alleged Fake GH₵50 Note
A retired military officer, Joseph Abusah, and a pastor, Benjamin Kofi Agbetiafah, have each been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment by the High Court in Accra after being convicted of conspiracy and manslaughter in the death of 32-year-old Solomon Dapaah.
The incident stemmed from a misunderstanding on March 1, 2018, when the deceased allegedly paid for a GH₵10 bottle of Fanta with a suspected fake GH₵50 note at a provisions shop in New Abladjei, a suburb of Agbogba. After the shop owner raised an alarm, Abusah and Agbetiafah chased the victim’s Nissan Micra taxi (registration GM 4907-12) in a Nissan pick-up (GT 3098-P), eventually blocking it on the outskirts of the community.
The victim attempted to flee but became entangled in a barbed wire fence. The two convicts pulled him free, beat him severely until he became unconscious, tied his hands and legs with nylon rope, and transported him to the Agbogba Police Station in the bucket of the pick-up to lodge a complaint. Police observed his swollen face and blood oozing from his mouth and rushed him to the Agbogba Clinic, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
A post-mortem examination conducted on March 13, 2018, by Supt/Dr. Osei Owusu Afriyie at the Police Hospital determined the cause of death as severe head injury and lynching—an unnatural manner of death.
After a full trial, a seven-member jury returned a 5-2 majority guilty verdict on the conspiracy charge and a unanimous guilty verdict on the manslaughter charge. Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, a Justice of the Court of Appeal sitting as an additional High Court judge, delivered the sentence on February 20, 2026.
In sentencing, the court imposed six months’ imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently, after weighing mitigation and aggravation factors.
Mitigation factors considered by the court included:
The convicts’ consistent attendance in court since their arrest on March 1, 2018
Six months spent on remand following arrest
Status as first-time offenders
Good conduct throughout the nearly nine-year trial
Age of the first accused (Joseph Abusah, a pensioner)
The second accused (Benjamin Kofi Agbetiafah, a pastor) having an aged mother (73 years old) and recent marriage
Aggravating circumstances highlighted by State Attorney Yvonne Adomako-Yarchie included the prolonged nature of the trial, the brutality of the assault, and the need for a deterrent sentence to reflect societal consequences and reform potential offenders.
The court strongly condemned the act of “instant justice” and mob-style punishment meted out in the community, stating that such behaviour cannot be tolerated.
The case, which spanned nearly nine years from the incident in 2018 to conviction in 2026, underscores ongoing concerns about mob justice, vigilantism, and the dangers of taking the law into one’s own hands over minor disputes—particularly involving suspected counterfeit currency.
