Germann Loses Last Appeal

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, 15 June 2006

THE Supreme Court in Accra, yesterday dismissed an appeal filed by Nana Kwasi Agyemang, popularly known as Gemann, a pop star, who has been on death row since 1995.

Gemann shot and killed a 35-year-old taxi driver near his residence at Dome, a suburb of Accra, following an argument over ў1,000 on January 9,1995.

The five-member panel chaired by Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo in a unanimous decision upheld the verdict of the Court of Appeal not to grant the convict’s application.

‘The evidence adduced during the trial is so overwhelming that the court cannot quash the Court of Appeal’s decision. The appellant is still to serve his death sentence’, Mr Justice Julius Ansah, a member of the panel who read the ruling on behalf of the panel, said.

Gemann had appealed against his conviction on the grounds that the sentence handed down to him was unreasonable considering the evidence adduced before the court.

He had also said that the trial judges remark that sought to direct the jury in their verdict was ‘a positive misdirection’, adding that the issue of his intention in the killing of the deceased was never addressed by the trial court.

Gemann appealed against his conviction at the Court of Appeal and lost before going to the Supreme Court.
The highest court of the land made it clear that the courts were not there to entertain issues of superstition and added that Gemann did not need the use of a gun to reverse a curse as contained in his own statement and evidence -in –chief.

Gemann was sentenced to death while his co- accused, Abieku Nyame, popularly called Jagger Pee, an actor was jailed 25 years but had his conviction overturned by the court of appeal.

The prosecution had said that on January 9, 1995, at about 8:30 am, one Naadi Khadi,a model took a taxi from Gloryland Hotel at Odorkor to Gemann’s residence at Dome but refused to pay the pre-arranged fare of ¢4,000 and instead offered to pay ¢3,000.

The driver, who felt cheated, left without collecting the money but came back to the residence after 45 minutes to collect some sand from the footprint of Gemann who had earlier intervened by appealing to the driver to accept the ¢3,000.

This infuriated Gemann who went in for his pistol and together with Jagger Pee and others rushed on the driver who they believed had collected the sand for ‘juju’ against the musician and
in the process Germann shot the driver through the head, killing him instantly