The Criminal Division of the Accra High Court has quashed the three-year jail sentence handed to the 17-year-old Achimota Senior High School student who shot and killed his mate.
The court which was presided over by Justice Kofi Dorgu, has upheld an application filed by the family of Gabriel Amihere, who was charged with manslaughter and subsequently sentenced.
According to the presiding judge, the trial went beyond the six months period as stipulated in the Juvenile Act.
The trial judge also stated that 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.
The court further indicated that, the family did not err by the mode of the appeal as opposed by the state attorney, Frances Molen Ansah.
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
