A Sunyani High Court on Tuesday sentenced a 32-year-old farmer, Kwadwo Broni of Mentumi village near Sankore in the Asunafo District to death by hanging when he was found guilty of causing the death of his three-month-old baby girl. A seven-member jury, including three women, unanimously passed a verdict of guilty.

Passing sentence, the presiding judge, Mr Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie said, "having been found guilty of the offence by persons chosen by you in your own trial, the court convicts you on the charge of murder. You are sentenced to death by hanging and will be buried at a place designated by the government. May the Lord have mercy on your soul."

The condemned farmer has 30 days to appeal against the sentence. The facts of the case were that the mother of the deceased was a second wife to Broni but he refused to accept responsibility for the little girl two weeks after her birth.

On 23 May 1998 Broni requested the baby's mother to bring the daughter to him to which she obliged. The accused returned the little girl 20 minutes later to the mother who realised that she had become weak and was also crying.

After a careful examination of the little girl, the mother realised that blood was oozing out of the buttocks and when she and a brother confronted the accused as to what he had done to the little girl, he showed them a needle, saying the instrument might have pierced the buttocks accidentally.

Not satisfied with his explanation, they reported the matter to the chairman of the village's unit committee, who sent the accused to the Odikro. The baby, however, died the same day and an autopsy conducted on the little girl at the hospital showed that she had been injected with a poisonous chemical. When the syringe and needle were also examined they were found to contain a similar chemical