A Tamale Circuit Court presided over by Senyo Amedahe, yesterday convicted four persons, including the youth chief of Tishiegu, to a total of nine years in prison with hard labour for their roles in the skirmishes at Tishigu, a suburb of Tamale in the Northern Region, in 2012, resulting in the death of one Yakubu Amadu. Several others were reported to have suffered multiple machete and gunshot wounds.

Yussif Mohammed, 30 and the youth chief were jailed three years while his accomplices, Abdul Rauf, 29; Seidu Mohammed 18 and Abdulai Ibrahim, 25, were each convicted to a term of two years.

The four were found guilty on two counts of conspiracy to commit crime, to wit, unlawful entry and causing harm and were convicted accordingly to run concurrently.

The chief, in view of his status in society, was given an additional year to serve as a deterrent to other traditional rulers who felt they could flout the laws and go unpunished.

The four, according to the prosecution, were among 11 suspects arrested for various roles in the skirmishes.

Police screened the suspects and found the four culpable in view of overwhelming evidence linking them to various acts of violence in the area, resulting from chieftaincy issues.

In a related development, a Tamale District Magistrate Court presided over by Anthony Essah, has remanded two persons – Abdulai Ziblim, alias Garbasey and Alhassan Abdulai, alias Dalarsey, into police custody to reappear on April 14, 2014.

The two are facing provisional charges of attempted murder after shooting each other on two separate occasions.

Both were arrested but granted bail on health grounds until the recent murders in Tamale linked them – reasons for which they were rearrested and remanded by the court for investigations.