I regret sentencing a man to 65 years imprisonment – Justice Honyenuga
Supreme Court nominee, Justice Clemence Honyenuga, wishes he could turn back the hands of time to reverse a 65-year sentence he handed an armed robber.
This is the biggest regret of Justice Honyenuga, who is also the Paramount Chief of the Nyagbo Traditional Area in the Volta Region, under the stool name,Torgbui Ashui Nyagasi V.
The Supreme Court nominee, who has been on the bench for 17 years, said the action he took at the time he was a High Court Judge was harsh, and added that he shouldn’t have allowed his emotions to overtake him.
He made the revelations when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament to be vetted for his new role as a Supreme Court Judge on Monday, May 11.
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Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, had asked about the worst mistake of the nominee who became a High Court judge in 2003.
“Unfortunately, I regret [it]. I sentenced him to 65 years’ imprisonment because of the gravity of the offence,” he recounted.
Justice Honyenuga said the suspect shot at the victim and her children in a bloody heist. The robber bolted with the belongings of the victim at a time her husband had gone on a trip.
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“I think I was too highhanded,” Justice Honyenuga observed.
After spending several years working with criminals and suspects on remand, he developed a soft heart as he gained insight into the difficult life in Ghanaian prisons.
“I used to be a very hard judge when I was at the High Court, but I must speak the truth. Since I took the Justice For All Programme, the conditions in which my fellow human beings live in, the type of food they eat in the prisons and the sufferings and humiliation have changed my heart very much”.
Yes Judges and the judiciary at large should visit the detention centers to reconsider their sentences to suspects like this Judge.
Unless there is any hidden details that the judge did not state there is absolutely no reason for this regret. It is good to advocate for improvement in the living conditions of prisoners but it is no justification to waive or tender down deserved punishment for willful offenders. When people inflict pains, hardship and misery, sometimes lifelong ones on others, create orphans, widows and widowers or truncate the dreams and aspirations of many through their wicked acts, why shouldn’t they do appropriate terms for it in prison. The man was even lucky his life was spared