A subsistence farmer from Nankese in the Eastern Region, Kwabena Huletey, is seeking GH¢9.9 million in damages for a seven-year ordeal of wrongful imprisonment that he said shattered his health, family, and livelihood.
Represented by private legal practitioner and activist, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, of Merton and Everette LLP, Huletey has sued the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Prisons Service, and the Attorney General, alleging systemic neglect and false accusations that led to his unjust detention.
According to a report by the Fourth Estate, Huletey’s troubles began in 2015 when he traveled to Akuapem Adawso to plan a customary marriage with 19-year-old Dela Hunukeh, a family friend’s daughter.
Recently separated from his first wife, with whom he had three children, Huletey embraced the match, unaware of the tragedy that would follow.
He soon discovered Hunukeh suffered from a chronic illness, and her family hoped the union would ease the financial burden of her treatment.
Despite his limited resources as a farmer, Huletey shouldered her medical costs, funding trips to health facilities at Adawso, Mampong, Tinkong, and eventually the Koforidua Roman Catholic Hospital.
The financial strain proved overwhelming for Huletey, who was unable to further afford immediate treatment for his fiancée.
After discussions with Hunukeh’s family, they agreed to delay additional hospital visits until Huletey could sell farm produce for funds.
Tragically, Hunukeh passed away before treatment could resume, succumbing to her illness, later identified as pneumonia.
In a twist of events, Huletey was arrested and charged with her murder, despite no evidence linking him to her death.
The Mampong District Court remanded him into custody, pending investigations and a year later, in 2016, the court ordered his release due to the failiure of state prosecutors and the police to bring a case against him.
However, instead of being granted his freedom, Huletey was inexplicably returned to Koforidua Prison by a police officer, with no legal basis.
There, he remained for five more years, abandoned by the system until the Justice for All Programme secured his release in 2022.
The seven years behind bars left Huletey broken.
According to his lawyers, he now battles severe lower back pain, muscle and bone ailments, hearing loss in his right ear, vision deterioration, and cognitive issues, including memory loss and confusion, all exacerbated by prison conditions and medical neglect.
“Huletey was held in Koforidua Prisons for 7 years, for killing someone when the person died from pneumonia. He was not even there when the person died.
“The court struck out the matter, but he was still kept in custody for the 7 years, because the CID just left him inside there,” Barker-Vormawor detailed in a Facebook post.
The emotional devastation, according to the Fourth Estate report, has equally been profound on Huletey.
During his detention, his sister, who relied on him financially, suffered a mental breakdown, his mother died without his knowledge, and he lost contact with his daughter and grandchildren.
The collapse of his marriage and family ties deepened his sense of loss, leaving him with “immeasurable emotional pain and deep psychological trauma,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit demands GH¢9.9 million, including GH¢500,000 for violating Huletey’s liberty and fair trial rights, GH¢500,000 for physical and psychological suffering, GH¢2 million for permanent health issues, GH¢500,000 for emotional trauma, GH¢3 million for lost livelihood, GH¢1 million for his marriage’s dissolution, GH¢1 million for separation from his daughter and grandchildren, GH¢1 million for severed family ties, and GH¢400,000 for legal fees.
GA/AE
