From L-R: Suspect Dora Sarpongmaa, deceased Lawyer Blay and key suspect Olenke
Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
There
appears to be a breakthrough with regard to solving the mystery of the gruesome
murder of a prominent Tema-based lawyer, Robert Samuel Blay in 2011.
The
murder had remained an unsolved mystery since 2011 because the police were
unable to trace the killers.
However,
two weeks ago, a prosecution witness in a different robbery case blew the cover
of suspects who conspired to murder R.S. Blay, throwing more light on the
mystery death of the young and popular Tema lawyer.
It
would be recalled that the Tema Metropolis was thrown into shock when on
October 5, 2011, Lawyer R.S. Blay was reported dead at the Tema General
Hospital after he was allegedly stabbed in the throat with a broken beer bottle
by an unknown assailant.
A
prosecution witness, one Yeboah, while giving evidence in a trial of a
different Rambo-styled robbery of a popular Forex Bureau in Tema, named one
Frank Amegadzi aka Olenke aka Papa, as the killer of Lawyer Blay.
He
as well fingered Dora Sarpongmaa, also standing trial in the forex bureau
robbery, as an accomplice.
In
his evidence to the court, Yeboah explained that Frank Amegadzi, the fifth
accused person in the Forex Bureau robbery case, stabbed Lawyer R.S. Blay with
the broken bottle in the throat, as the deceased was seated in his car on that
fateful day.
Yeboah
told the court that he had been friends with Amegadzi for over 19 years.
The
shocking revelation was made at a criminal trial at an Accra Fast Track High
Court presided over by Justice Mustapha Habib Logoh on October 28.
In
all, 11 persons including Dora, were suspected of terrorizing residents in the
Tema Metropolis and now being tried for the robbery of the Tema forex bureau.
Some of the suspected forex bureau robbers in prison custody
In
Yeboah’s testimony to the Fast Track High Court, he said Frank Amegadzi
allegedly killed Lawyer Blay because he claimed years ago, the deceased took
money to defend him in a robbery case. However, the lawyer did not turn up in
court, leading to him being remanded in prison for a long time.
Amegadzi
was apparently freed under the ‘Justice for all’ programme after spending some
time in remand custody at the Nsawam Prisons.
Angry
that Lawyer Blay was unable to save him from being incarcerated, upon his
release, Olenke allegedly connived with his girlfriend Dora Sarpongmaa to
attack the deceased.
He
told the court that Amegadzi used his girlfriend Dora Sarpongmaa to lure the
young lawyer to a dark place in Tema.
At
the arranged spot, while seated in his car with Dora, she was alleged to have
signalled Olenke, who emerged from the shadows around 1:30am and pounced on
Lawyer Blay, stabbing him in the throat with a broken bottle, Yeboah told the
court. He emphasized that he was an eyewitness to the incident since he drove
with Amegadzi in Community 12 in Tema.
Witness: “My Lord, they went, but they didn’t come back
or return on time. They didn’t come back early, they came around 1:00 a.m. and
then the 5th accused person told me that
Dora the 7th accused person has signalled
him that they were coming. So myself and the 5th accused person, we left Southern Fried Chicken at Tema Motorway
roundabout and went to Community 12. There is a place called Rama Down – it is
a curve, so we went and parked there.
“My
Lord, we parked at a distance under a tree. So I asked the 5th accused, Olenke, why we have come here; is it
because of the food or he is coming to collect his money from the lawyer, and
he said I should just look on. So we were there when the lawyer came. So they
came and parked and where they parked we were seeing them, they were ahead of
us, or in front of us so we were watching them. So whilst Dora, the 7th accused person and the lawyer were romancing in the vehicle, the 5th accused, Olenke, got down from the vehicle. So it was there that I
saw the 9th and 10th accused persons, the twins, they also came to park near a church.
So Olenke, the 5thaccused person came back to the vehicle and picked
an empty Stone beer bottle and used the hammer to break the top. So he went on
to say that as for him, nobody can chop his money and go scot free, so I should
just watch him, and that I can later go and park his car in his house. So the 5th accused person went to Lawyer Blay’s vehicle, the driver’s side,
held him by the neck and said ‘today I will collect my money’, and the lawyer
also tried to struggle with him, and he pushed him back into the vehicle and
used the bottle to stab him in the neck. It was then that Dora, the 7thaccused
person, got out from the car and sneaked away. So after seeing that, I also
panicked and then got down from the vehicle.”
Background
On
October 5, 2011 the police confirmed the death of lawyer Blay, then 47.
He
was reported to have driven his VW Passat car with registration number GT 811
Z, from the scene of the attack to the Tema General Hospital where he checked
in at the Emergency Centre, but he died while trying to explain what happened
to him.
The
deceased lawyer lived in Tema Community 3, and was well-known in the
Metropolis.
According
to Inspector Olivia Turkson, the Public Affairs Officer of the Tema Regional
Police Command at the time, the police got information that the lawyer had
driven himself to the hospital alone in his car, in what was believed to be an
effort to save his own life.
Lawyer
Blay drove himself to the hospital around 3:30 am but reportedly died around
4:00am.
Inspector
Turkson told DAILY GUIDE that a search
in the deceased’s car revealed two take-away packs of chips and chicken, and
the broken Stone Lager beer bottle.
The
police PRO stated that the deceased’s mobile phone could also not be traced at
the hospital and in his car, compelling them (police) to suspect that it might
have been taken away by the perpetrators to prevent them from being traced.
A
ticket collected at the Tema Motorway toll booth showed that he paid the toll
around 1:00am.
Lawyer
Blay, who was a grandson of the late R.S. Blay, a Supreme Court Judge in the
1960s and later the Speaker of the Constituent Assembly of 1969, left behind a
mother and two sisters.
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