Family of Lily Donkor, the third-year student of Achimota Senior High School who was shot and killed by her mate, is demanding justice from the state.
The 17- year old boy accused of shooting Lily was convicted and handed a three year jail term for manslaughter.
An Accra High Court on Monday however quashed the sentence and freed him.
According to the court presided over Justice Kofi Dogu, the trial judge at the juvenile court erred in demanding a social enquiry report only after sentencing the accused, although it is required by law to do so before sentencing.
Lily’s family is however not pleased with the court’s judgement.
A relative of the deceased, Peggy Ama Donkor, said the state must revisit the case.
“The state should revisit the case. The truth is that we are not happy even with the three years sentence given but we could not do anything about it. This case should serve as a deterrent to other parents and their wards who think that with money or connections they can be left off the hook when they commit a crime. People have committed less crimes, some have stolen just banana; they are juveniles and they are in there. He did not even go to the normal prison, he went to a correctional home and they are saying what? Those of us who lost our daughter are still calling for justice for Lily,” she said.
The ruling followed an appeal by the lawyers of the boy, who argued that the sentence handed to him was too harsh.
They also claimed that the trial judge lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.
The High Court held that there had been a miscarriage of justice because the Juvenile Court delivered a verdict without a social enquiry report.
He was found guilty of manslaughter by the Accra Juvenile court in September 2017, during proceedings that were heard in-camera.
Being 16-years-old at the time of the incident on January 4, 2017, he was tried by a Juvenile Court.
The boy, who resides at Community Eight in Tema, is said to have gone for his father’s gun, which was under a bed with the intention of firing shots into the air.
He however ended up killing his friend, Lily Donkor, a third-year student of the same school.
The boy told police that his intent was to fire the gun into the air, a claim corroborated by the police, adding however that the weight of the gun changed the course of the bullet, which hit the deceased.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
