"Alhaji Sweetwater's" Murderer Jailed

Two years after the death of one of the most adored Ghanaian immigrants in Chicago, Walter Hughes, 37, was sentenced Thursday, May 29, 2003 to 42 year?s incarceration for the 2001 murder of Alhaji Mohammed, popularly known as ?Alhaji Sweetwater?.

Alhaji Mohammed, 55, was the father of the only Ghanaian player in the United States NBA league, Nazr Mohammed, of Atlanta Hawks fame, former Chief and founding member of the Ghana Northern Union an affiliate organization of Ghana National Council of Metropolitan Chicago.

A jury convicted Hughes in April 2003 of first degree murder and armed robbery of the industrialist and Ghanaian immigrant.

Walter Hughes, a former employee of Alhaji Mohammed, horribly clubbed his boss to death with a baseball bat in a dispute over money.

Judge Stanley Sacks sentenced Hughes to 42 years for Mohammed?s murder along with a 10-year sentence for the armed robbery; the sentences will run concurrently.

Most Ghanaians in Chicago hailed the sentence and were pleased that justice was served against the man who took away one of the most assiduous immigrants in our community.