Forty-two years ago, on Thursday, July 1, 1982, the 22nd anniversary of our beloved Republic, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation reported a news item that initially sounded routine and unnecessary.
All Judges, it was announced, were thenceforth to be provided with armed security for their protection. Since the Judges already had security protection of some sort, the announcement made little impression on the general population and lawyers.
Not even the most skeptical suspected that behind the news item was a repugnant episode, the horrible details of which were to unfold later.
Soon it was announced officially that three High Court Judges and a retired Army Officer had been abducted at night during the curfew hours of June 30, 1982. Prayers were offered for their safety.
But the nation’s worst fears became a reality when it was announced that Mr. Justice Fred Poku Sarkodee, Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, and Mr. Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong, all Judges of the High Court, and Major Sam Acquah, a retired army officer, had been most brutally and savagely murdered on the night of their abduction.
This cruel, savage, and heartless act occurred at the Bundase Military Range in the Accra Plains.
The bodies of these precious Ghanaians had been soaked with petrol and set on fire.
Divine intervention, through a heavy downpour that night, quenched the burning bodies. When discovered, the charred bodies had deteriorated into a state of decomposition. The nation was stunned.
There was swift, widespread, and open condemnation by Ghanaians from all walks of life. Pressure mounted on the then-military government for a thorough investigation and punishment of the perpetrators.
The Provisional National Defence Council, publicly declaring itself to be horrified by the crime and yielding to the strong public pressure, appointed a Special Investigation Board with a former Chief Justice of Ghana, the late Mr. Justice Samuel Azu Crabbe, as Chairman, to investigate the murders.
The courage and professional expertise of the Special Investigation Board’s main investigator, the late Chief Superintendent Jacob Jebuni Yidana, an officer of the Ghana Police Service, will go down in the history of Ghana as the qualities that helped produce one of the best criminal investigations ever undertaken in this country.
The Special Investigation Board submitted a report, which was published along with a Government White Paper.
The Special Investigation Board made a number of findings leading to the prosecution of Joachim Amartey Kwei, a member of the PNDC, Lance Corporals Samuel Amedeka and Michael Senyah, and two ex-soldiers: Johnny Dzandu and Tonny Tekpor.
During the trial, Lance Corporals Amedeka, Dzandu, and Tekpor escaped in a jailbreak. Amedeka fled the country, but Dzandu and Tekpor were captured and they rejoined the trial.
All accused persons were found guilty and sentenced to death. Lance Corporal Amedeka was sentenced in absentia.
Though Lance Corporal Tekpor was also convicted he was not available to face the death penalty because it was alleged that some days before his trial concluded, another Public Tribunal had found him guilty of acts committed in connection with the jailbreak and he had suffered death in the execution of the sentence of that tribunal.
This is a brief résumé of the historical background to the dreadful events we have met here today to commemorate. Our departed colleagues died in the line of duty to their nation, to their countrymen, and to the rule of law.
For the past forty-one years, the Bar and Bench have mourned the death of these martyrs of the rule of law.
In response to the call for reconciliation by the National Reconciliation Commission and the biblical injunction that we should forgive those who trespass against us, we have forgiven the wrongdoers for their cowardly and evil deeds. But we still remember these martyrs of the rule of law and will continue to celebrate them.
The Bar and Bench acknowledge and proclaim those good qualities and deeds for which they were murdered.
Justices Fred Poku Sarkodee, Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, and Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong, the Bar, Bench, and the people of Ghana salute you.
You died in the line of duty. You performed your duty as judges without fear or favor. You stood for the rule of law. But your assassins hated what you stood for and murdered you.
They could not eliminate what you stood for. Your monuments stand in the forecourt of the Supreme Court building in constant reminder of the good qualities required of a judge.
Judges, Magistrates, and Lawyers will continue to draw inspiration from the bold and courageous manner in which you administered justice in those challenging times. We will continue to celebrate you, lest we forget what you lived and died for.
1. Life History Of The Late MR. JUSTICE FREDERICK POKU SARKODEE
Mr. Justice Frederick Poku Sarkodee was born in Koforidua on August 19, 1926. He was educated at E.C.M. Primary School, Koforidua.
He then continued at Adisadel College from 1943 to 1948 where he was a House Prefect. He passed his O’ Level Examinations with distinction.
In 1948, there was a college strike in protest against the arrest of the Big Six by the Colonial Administration, in the struggle for independence. He was rusticated as a result of the strike.
His father employed private teachers to prepare him for his Advanced Level Examinations, which he passed with flying colors.
In 1950, his father sponsored him to go to Sierra Leone where he studied successfully at Fourah Bay College.
He then went to the United Kingdom in 1954 to pursue legal studies. He was admitted to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple in 1957 as a student and completed his course in two years.
He immediately returned to Ghana and joined the Office of the Attorney-General. He rose quickly to become a Senior State Attorney in 1966. He was elevated to the Bench as a High Court Judge in 1971 and discharged his functions with distinction.
Justice Poku Sarkodee was not a person who was bound by unbending conservatism for its own sake. He was not afraid to explore and expand the frontiers of the law. As far back as 1976 before the Intestate Succession Act of 1985 (PNDC Law 111), which gives protection at customary law to a married spouse had been enacted, Justice Sarkodee sought to give protection to a wife who contributed to the estate of her deceased husband in the celebrated case of Abebreseh v Kaah reported in Volume 2 of the 1976 Ghana Law Reports at page 46.
Justice Sarkodee also delivered the judgment in Ghana Commercial Bank v Tabury reported in Volume 1 of the 1977 Ghana Law Reports at page 329, which is one of the celebrated cases on the setting aside of a default judgment.
In the case of Addo v Addo reported in Volume 2 of the 1973 Ghana Law Reports at page 103, a divorce matter, Justice Sarkodee expanded the boundaries of unreasonable behavior when he stated that “persistently refusing a young wife sexual intercourse over a long period constituted unreasonable behavior such that the wife ought not to be called upon to endure it any longer.”
Justice Poku Sarkodee was married to Yvonne and had five children. His widow, Mrs. Yvonne Sarkodee, passed away in 2018. He was a quiet yet very sociable gentleman and a leading member of a number of Clubs and Societies. He was also a very keen golfer and tennis player.
Fred is remembered with affection and respect by everyone who came into contact with him, both professionally and personally.
The inscription on his erected bust at the Forecourt of the Supreme Court Building, Accra reads: “Mr. Justice Frederick Poku Sarkodee will be remembered as the cool, calm and collected gentleman, the very embodiment of courtesy, hard work, being fair and firm. He exhibited judicial taciturnity and versatility. He was committed to his family, work, and God.”
2. Life History Of The Late MRS. JUSTICE CECILIA KORANTENG-ADDOW
Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow was born on May 24, 1936, in Assin-Nsuta, her hometown, to Mr. Philip A. Gaisie and Madam Adwoa Konsaa.
After her preliminary education, she continued her schooling at OLA and Holy Child Secondary School, Cape Coast. She then went abroad for further education.
After her preparatory studies, she entered the University of Hull where she distinguished herself with merit and credit. She obtained the Bachelor of Laws degree with Honours in 1963 and was called to the English Bar.
Cecilia returned home in 1964 and first engaged in private legal practice in the firm of Opoku Acheampong and Company.
There she immediately showed great promise, rising to eminence at the Bar. Marital relations and responsibilities moved her to Accra soon after and she decided to join the Judicial Service.
She started as a District Magistrate in July 1966. Her rise in the Service was quite meteoric and she was ultimately appointed a High Court Judge in 1975.
Mrs. Justice Koranteng-Addow was one of three female Superior Court Justices at the time she became a High Court Judge in 1975. At the time of her death, only one female had been added to that number. Over fifteen of her judgments are reported in the Ghana Law Reports.
Popular among them is Lartey and Lartey Co Ltd v Beany and Anor delivered in 1980 and reported in Volume 1 of the 1987-88 Ghana Law Reports at page 590, where she held, among other things, that for an agent to succeed in an action to recover commission for the sale of property, he must prove that he was the effective cause of the sale.
She married Mr. Benard Koranteng-Addow in 1964. They had three children, Maureen, Bernice, and Bertrand. She was a devoted wife and mother.
Mr. Koranteng-Addow, her husband, was until the time of his death, a Lecturer at the University of Ghana. Bertrand Koranteng-Addow, her only son, also died some years ago.
Mrs. Justice Koranteng-Addow was an active Catholic and a member of the St. Theresa Catholic Church, Accra. She was noted for her sense of discipline, industry, forthrightness, and generosity. These qualities endeared her to her friends and the many who knew her.
The inscription on her bust reads: “She was a warm and gentle lady with a genuine love for her fellow human beings. She treated everyone with fairness and firmness. She was dedicated to her work, family, and God.”
3. Life History Of The Late MR. JUSTICE Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong
Mr. Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong was born on August 27, 1932, at Asokore, Ashanti to Mr. Joseph Kwame Boaten and Mrs. Regina Akua Tima Boaten.
He attended Asokore Local Catholic School in 1938 and completed primary school in 1943. He proceeded to St. Peter’s Catholic School, Kumasi, in 1944.
In 1946, he gained admission to St. Augustine’s College, Cape Coast, and in 1951 obtained his Cambridge School Certificate.
He was a keen athlete and won a number of prizes in athletics and other sports.
His academic excellence won him a scholarship from the United Africa Company (UAC) in 1954 to study at Achimota School for his Cambridge Higher School Certificate.
In 1956, he won another scholarship from the United Africa Company (UAC) to study Law in the United Kingdom. He attended the City of London College, Moorgate, where he obtained his LLB degree in 1959.
On completion of his University course, he enrolled in the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple in 1960 and was called to the English Bar in February 1962.
Mr. Justice Agyepong returned to Ghana after his legal studies and was called to the Ghana Bar in May 1962. He was engaged as a State Attorney in the Office of the Attorney-General in Accra.
In 1965, he left the public service for private legal practice and joined the law firm of Kwabi & Co. Accra, and later the firm of Okudzeto & Co., Accra. In both firms, he performed brilliantly as a private legal practitioner.
In 1974, Mr. Justice Agyepong was appointed a High Court Judge and posted to Koforidua. While at Koforidua, he was sent to Legon to study French at the Institute of African Studies, in 1976. He then attended the Alliançe Francaise to improve his proficiency in the French language. He became an active member of the Ghana Association of Francophone Judges and Magistrates.
Mr. Justice Agyepong was posted to Accra in 1981 and remained there until he met his tragic death in 1982.
The late Mr. Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong was an exemplary judge. He exhibited the highest standard of probity, accountability, and the qualities of a good judge. He performed his judicial duties with distinction. His judgment in the case of Tawiah v Ayibu, delivered in 1979 and reported in Volume 2 of the 1979 Ghana Law Reports at page 359 is still referred to by lawyers in Ghana.
Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong was a devout Catholic and served as the Vice-Chairman of the La Parish Council. He was a philanthropist and exhibited great love and care for his family. He was a person of high principles and integrity.
The bust at the Supreme Court Building bears the inscription: “Mr. Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong will always be remembered for his firm adherence to high standards of probity, accountability and qualities of a good judge. He was kind, cheerful, friendly and was always approachable. He was dedicated to his family, work, and God.”
We should continue to draw inspiration from these martyrs of the rule of law. We should follow their example of courage, selfless dedication to duty, and be guided by their love for their fellow men and women, in every sphere of our professional and private lives.
We should not allow ourselves to be intimidated in the discharge of our judicial functions. May they rest in perfect peace.
The Bar and Bench will continue to commemorate the anniversary of the deaths of these three noble men and women and remember their virtues and good deeds.
The martyrdom of Justices Poku Sarkodee, Koranteng-Addow, and Agyei Agyepong shall forever be remembered in our legal history.
We will never forget what they lived and died for.
Rest in Peace.
Thank you.
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