Boy, 23, jailed for stabbing his brother over ‘yam’ phone

A 23-year-old man, Justice Antwi has been jailed for attacking his brother with a broken bottle over a mobile phone.

Justice said his principle in life is "I will not offend you but if you offend me in any way, I will not forgive you. I will retaliate."

However, his principle landed him into the grips of the law when he slashed his older brother, Stephen Antwi with a broken bottle during an altercation over a ‘yam’ phone.

According to Justice, Stephen who was a mason asked him to come along with him to learn the skill after he completed Senior High School since he will be idle.

He said he obliged but his stay with his brother was marred with confrontations over his wage and his mobile phone.

The inmate admitted that he smoked weed, which influenced him to be violent.

“The foreman we worked under, gave us a room to lodge and we were four in the room. On one project, we did not finish the job so we were expected to sleep at the site to complete it but that evening I insisted on going home to where we originally lodged. I wanted to go and smoke because it had been a long time since I smoked. My brother did not want me to go so he refused to give me some money I had with him,” he said.

He continued that "subsequently, my brother gave me my money and I left but I did not find my mobile phone. I asked my brother and everyone else in the room about the phone but they said they had not seen it. Later, when they came home, my brother told me that he saw a mobile phone under the carpet in the room but he did not come along with it."

Justice said he felt disappointed by his brother’s action because his brother can identify his phone if it was his so he thought it was a tact he was using to keep the device.

He said he insisted that his brother return his phone and it resulted in exchanges between them.

The young man claimed that Stephen smacked his face with a shovel, which wounded him. He, therefore, vowed to deal with him and threatened him to ‘wait and see.’

Justice said he went to smoke to enable him to face his brother who was also a habitual drunkard.

He said at a drinking spot where he went to take an alcoholic drink after smoking, "I took a bottle, broke it and then came and stabbed my brother on his forehead causing him to bleed profusely."

He indicated that for fear of what he had done, he reported to the police about the shovel his brother used to attack him but he did not mention his attack on his brother.

Stephen, he said later reported to the police about the incident and he was arrested.

“Because I had smoked, I was not in my right senses until I was arrested and put behind bars,” he said.

Justice said he was arraigned before court and was jailed 18 months in default of a One Thousand Two Hundred Ghana cedis fine.

But almost four months into his sentence, Crime Check Foundation (CCF), with support from a US-based donor, known as ‘The Only One’ paid his fine for his release.