The 33-year-old woman who poured acid on her business rival has been jailed two years with hard labour by the Akyem Swedru Circuit Court.
Ms Vida Odame-Boadi, alias Ama Vida, pleaded guilty to the offence, but appealed to the presiding judge, Mr Alexander Oworae, for clemency, claiming she did not know what prompted her to take that action.
Upon Ms Odame-Boadi’s response to the judge that she had four children, including a seven-month-old baby, Justice Oworae handed down the sentence yesterday to end a case that travelled less than three months.
It brought a measure of justice to the victim of the acid attack, Ms Akua Dwomoh, aka Awo, who nonetheless expressed displeasure with the verdict.
Speaking to the media after the judgement, she said she was not satisfied with the sentence, claiming that the two-year jail term was not deterrent enough.
Again, she said, she expected compensation to defray her hospital expenses but that did not happen.
Facts
The facts of the case as presented by the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Lawrence Ahiatsi, were that Ms Odame-Boadi and her victim, Ms Dwomoh, owned separate grocery shops separated by a road at Community Six, a suburb of Oda in the Eastern Region.
The two had quarrelled several times and were not on speaking terms over issues suspected to be related to Ms Dwomoh’s bigger sales and customer base.
At about 10 p.m. on June 21, 2019, when Ms Dwomoh had closed and was returning to her bedroom after taking a shower, Ms Odame-Boadi, who had laid ambush for her, poured acid from a plastic container on her head, face, cheeks, arms and breasts.
Ms Odame-Boadi took to her heels after committing the offence.
Alarm
The victim raised an alarm and people in the neighbourhood went to her aid and helped her to lodge a complaint at the Oda Police Station.
She was given a medical form to attend the Oda Government Hospital where she was admitted, but was later transferred to the St Dominic Hospital at Akwatia where she spent two weeks.
Ms Odame-Boadi was arrested the same night at her hideout and placed in police custody.
After preliminary investigations, she was put before the court which remanded her in prison custody until July 8, 2019.
During her second appearance in court on July 8, 2019, she was granted bail in the sum of GH¢20,000 with two sureties to be justified and the case was adjourned to August 14, 2019.
The court did not sit on August 14, 2019 so the case was adjourned to August 26, 2019 when judgement was delivered.
Source: graphic.com.gh
