The man believed to be the main suspect behind the shooting of the chief of Chinto near Nsawam in the Eastern Region has been freed by an Accra circuit court a few months ago.

The suspect, Charles Donkor, alias Killer, is alleged to be the hitman who was contracted to kill the chief to pave the way for the enstoolment of a new chief.

He was let off the hook by Justice Francis Obiri, a High Court judge sitting with additional responsibility.

Nana Okotoako Kofi Mankata II, 54, and his driver, Nana Kwame, 38, were gunned down at the entrance of the chief’s residence at Adoagyiri near Nsawam on the night of Saturday, March 26, 2015 and the suspect was consequently put before a circuit court charged with possession of firearms without lawful authority.

The trial judge in freeing the suspect said there was no evidence directly linking the suspect to the crime.

He said the prosecuting team, led by DSP E. Acheampong, failed to prove that the suspect was in possession of the said gun as it was later admitted in court that the gun was found somewhere.

The chief and his driver were returning home after attending a funeral when the said unknown assailants on an unregistered motorbike shot them.

The prosecution had told the court the facts of the case that police had retrieved a pistol and 13 rounds of live ammunition after the arrest of the suspect.

Following the murder of the chief, some residents of the area linked the death to a protracted chieftaincy dispute in Chinto.

It was alleged that the marksmen on the motorbike shot the chief and his driver and bolted, leaving the bodies of the two in a pool of blood.

Nana Mankata is alleged to have been destooled by a judicial committee of the traditional council, headed by the Aburihene, Otoobour Djan Kwasi II, in 2010 on the grounds of disrespect and violent harassment of his subjects.

The late chief had been installed in 2005 but on December 19, 2013, Abusuapanin Opare and others enstooled Nana Fianko III as a rival chief.