Tamale (Northern Region), 2 Mar. '99 -

A 32-year-old farmer, Salifu Imoro, from Kigbripe village in the West Gonja District, has been sentenced to death by a Tamale High Court for the murder of his mother, whom he suspected to be responsible for the death of his two children. A seven- member jury found Imoro guilty. He had pleaded not guilty. The prosecution told the court, presided over by Mr Justice R. T. Aninakwa, that Imoro shot his mother, Jinche Miami in the chest at dawn on February one, 1996 and later buried her at the outskirts of the village. Imoro said in his defence that although he suspected his mother of the death of his two children under mysterous circumstamces, he did not kill her intentionally. He said on that fateful day, he saw through a hole from his room a glowing object approaching his house and called out thrice to find out who it was. When he did not hear any response, he picked his gun and shot at the object. Just afterwards, Imoro said he heard the wailing of a human being and when he got closer with his touch light he found his own mother lying in a pool of blood. Accused said he did not expect his mother to be in the village because she had told him the previous day that she was travelling to Ejura in the Ashanti Region. He said he went and informed his uncle about the incident but when they got back, his mother had managed to crawl from the spot to her house about 250 metres away where she died in her room. He said the family arranged for her burial in the night at the outskirts of the village. Imoro said he later confessed his crime to the local GPRTU chairman who took him to the chief, who advised them to report to the Police.