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Johnson Kombian farmer and businessman who is to be hanged for killing two police officers says he is dissatisfied with the verdict of the seven- member jury and would therefore launch an appeal. According to Kombian he did not get the justice he deserved hence “he is aggrieved and had instructed me to launch an appeal against his conviction and sentence,” Mr George Asamaney lawyer for Kombian told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra on Thursday.

According to counsel “the verdict was against the weight of evidence because public opinion was against him”. He said: “Kombian thinks the conviction and sentence was too harsh, excessive and out of date.”

According to counsel, he would apply for proceedings and as soon as he secures it, he would file the appeal. Mr Asamaney noted that his client felt that the state did not prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.

Counsel said, Kombian was of the view that that the motive for which he killed the Police was paramount adding: “There was no motive for committing the crime and he had nothing against the Police officers.”

Mr Asamaney noted that no proper investigations were done to unearth the real culprits and wondered why since his arrest, none of the so called accomplices had been apprehended.

“No efforts have been made by the Police to arrest other accomplices who are alleged to have committed the crime,” he said. Counsel recounted that Kombian had been described in the media as a “notorious armed robber” hence getting witnesses to testify for him was difficult.

As part of the grounds of Appeal, counsel said there were so many inconsistencies in the case of the prosecution and that the jury was misdirected. Johnson Kombian was on Wednesday sentenced to death by hanging by an Accra FastTrack high Court for killing two police officers in the Northern Region.

The deceased are Constable Prince Agyare and Constable Owusu Frimpong. A third policeman, Corporal Osei Bonsu, survived after sustaining gunshot wounds

Kombian was also sentenced to 30 years imprisonment on the charge of conspiracy to commit crime. Sentences were to run concurrently.

This was after a seven- member jury unanimously returned a verdict of guilty on two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit crime. Kombian, alias Garkum, and his accomplices who are currently on the run, are alleged to have ambushed three policemen on October 17, 2010 and succeeded in killing two of them.

The deceased are Constable Prince Agyare and Constable Owusu Frimpong. Kombian allegedly conspired with his friend, Kofi Naaman, known as Accra Boy, to rob Djato Mathias and then attempted to kill him.

He was therefore arrested, tried and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment by the Tamale Circuit Court but he escaped while serving his jail term. Kombian sought refuge at Nakpanduri in the Bunkpurugu Yunyoo District of the , which happened to be his hometown.

On October 17, 2010, the accused person and his accomplices received information that a number of policemen had been detailed to perform duties at the Nakpanduri Scarp.

Kombian and his accomplices however ambushed and attacked the three policemen. They allegedly fired gunshots at the deceased policemen who were then on a motorbike. The policemen fell into a 10-metre long valley. The accused person and his group continued to fire sporadically into the valley, with the hope of killing the policemen, who also retaliated with occasional gun fire.

After some minutes of firing, Kombian and his gang stopped, and on realising that the gunshots had ended, Agyare and his colleagues mistakenly thought their attackers had left. They, therefore, came out of their hideout and were subjected to more gun fire.

Help finally came for Agyare and his colleagues while Kombian and his accomplices bolted. The wounded policemen were conveyed to the Nalerigu Hospital but Agyare was later pronounced dead. Frimpong also died later, while Bonsu was transferred to the Police Hospital in Accra where he was treated and discharged.

Kombian escaped to Togo after the incident but he was later picked up by the Togolese authorities and handed over to the Ghanaian authorities.