The High Court in Accra has sentenced a mother of two, Lydia Aboagye, to life imprisonment after a jury found her guilty of murdering her husband during a domestic dispute.
The conviction followed a full trial in which a seven-member jury returned a 5-2 majority verdict, meeting the legal threshold under Section 46 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, as amended by Act 1101.
Lydia Aboagye was convicted of killing her husband, Kweku Gyasi, after a quarrel at their home in 2021.
The prosecution, led by Senior State Attorney Christabel Selma Anafure, called three witnesses during the trial, while the defence presented testimony from the convict and her mother.
After deliberating for 39 minutes, the jury found Aboagye guilty of murder.
Presiding judge, Justice Marie-Louise Simmons, subsequently convicted and sentenced her to life imprisonment.
Before sentencing, the court allowed the convict to speak, but she simply told the court, “I have nothing to say.”
Justice Simmons informed the convict and her lawyer that they have one month from July 30, 2026, to appeal the judgment before the Court of Appeal.
According to the prosecution, Lydia Aboagye and the deceased lived together with their two children in a single-room apartment at Omanjor-Dwenewoho in the Ga West Municipality.
On November 3, 2021, at about 4:30 a.m., the couple reportedly got into an argument that turned violent.
During the confrontation, Aboagye allegedly grabbed a broken Coca-Cola bottle and stabbed her husband in the left rib.
Prosecutors said that after seeing blood gush from the wound, she locked the injured man inside the room and fled, later disposing of the broken bottle in a nearby bush.
About an hour later, the landlord, who had just finished his early-morning prayers, was alerted by his daughter after she heard unusual noises coming from the couple’s room.
He forced the door open and found Kweku Gyasi lying in a pool of blood.
Neighbours assisted in rushing him to the Ga West Municipal Hospital at Amasaman, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
His body was later transferred to the Police Hospital mortuary for preservation and an autopsy.
According to the prosecution, Aboagye later returned to the house and allegedly attempted to clean the bloodstains before neighbours apprehended her and handed her over to the police, leading to her arrest and eventual prosecution.
