Despite legal challenges to his victory, the president-elect of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, will be sworn in on May 29, according to Lai Mohammed, the minister of information.
As outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari officially leaves office in May, groups angry over the results of the presidential election on February 25 are calling for an interim administration.
Mr Mohammed said there was “no basis” for the constitution of an interim government. He said the opposition political parties have the right to challenge the presidential election in court
Four presidential candidates filed legal challenges on 21 March against Mr Tinubu’s victory, alleging widespread rigging and manipulation of tallies.
It takes about eight months for the judiciary to determine a presidential election petition. The petition must be heard within 180 days from the day it is filed. A petitioner can appeal the tribunal’s judgement at the Court of Appeal within 21 days from the decision date.
If petitioners are dissatisfied with the appellate court’s decision, which is delivered within 60 days, they have 21 days to appeal it at the Supreme Court, whose decision is final.
Following a complaint about noise pollution from neighbors, a Nigerian court has given the owner of a raucous rooster until Friday to kill it, according to local media.
According to two neighbors, the cockerel’s constant crowing kept them from sleeping, and the court in the northern city of Kano pronounced it a nuisance to the neighborhood, according to the Premium Times news website.
Yusuf Muhammed, one of the neighbors, testified in court that the rooster’s crowing violated his right to a sound sleep.
Isyaku Shu’aibu informed the court that he had purchased the fowl for use in celebrations of Good Friday and requested that it be allowed to live until the Christian holiday before being killed for a family meal.
Magistrate Halima Wali granted the request on Tuesday but warned him to prevent the cockerel from roaming the area and disturbing residents, the Daily Trust news website adds.
The owner was also ordered to ensure he slaughters the bird on Friday as promised or face a penalty.
Donald Trump has just left Trump Tower and is heading to the court building in Lower Manhattan.
This is where he will be formally arrested. The journey itself is about a 30-minute drive south through Manhattan, but that time could be much less if there’s a full police escort.
About ten automobiles, with a police escort, are currently traveling into Lower Manhattan.
New York City firefighters and police are in the caravan.
It appears that all traffic has been moved off the highways, so the trip could take as short as 20 minutes.
The motorcade is seen moving south in the video taken from a helicopter, which you can see at the top of this page.
Legal cases like this can take months, sometimes even years to play out, but here are some of the things we know have to happen after Trump appears in court.
Disclosure of evidence
Within 15 days of the arraignment, the prosecution must hand over all evidence gathered as part of the investigation to the defence.
This is known as “discovery” and includes the minutes from the grand jury process, testimony of every witness interviewed by law enforcement (although some may be redacted), every exhibit shown to the grand jury, and other records prosecutors obtained such as telephone records, tapes, emails etc.
Motions will be filed
Trump’s team has already said they will file motions to dismiss the case before it goes to trial.
Generally, the defence has 45 days to file motions after arraignment, but the judge has discretion to grant more time.
Without knowing what is in the indictment, we can’t predict what tack Trump’s lawyers will take, but he has already floated the idea of filing a motion to transfer the case out of Manhattan.
Motions to change venue are rarely granted as the defence would need to convince the judge that Trump wouldn’t be able to get a fair hearing in New York due to pre-trial publicity.
With the amount of media attention this case has already generated across America, it is hard to see a judge agreeing to that.
Other motions will likely hinge on arguments about the statute of limitations having expired, the nature of the charges involving federal campaign violations, or other attacks on the sufficiency of the evidence.
Jeremy Saland, a former assistant district attorney, suggested Trump’s team could file catch-all motion to dismiss the indictment — known as a “Clayton motion”— seeking to have the judge throw the case out not on the merits, but in the interests of justice.
Trump’s day in court
The “speedy trial” rule in New York states that prosecutors must be ready to try a felony case within six months, but what’s on the books is frequently different to what happens.
Mr Saland added: “I could see this go north of year. They are going to file every motion in book.”
The singer was granted bail in the sum of N300,000 with two sureties in the same amount.
The singer was arraigned in court yesterday, April 3, 2023, on a six-count charge bordering on assault and theft of someone’s musical equipment. He was granted bail in the sum of N300,000 with two sureties in the same amount. The court ruled that both sureties must have landed properties near the court.
The judge ruled that Portable is to remain at the Ilaro Correctional Centre until he meets the bail condition and adjourned the case to April 26.
Shortly after the court ruling, new photos of the singer were shared on his Instagram page with a caption expressing gratitude to God. “Alhamdulilahi,” he captioned the photos.
Another video surfaced online where the singer commented about the past few days. He said he has learned a new lesson, as what happened was God’s way of shielding him from an untimely death.
The singer resisted arrest after some men from the police command stormed his bar to arrest him for failing to honour several invitations sent to him.
In now-viral video, the singer who referred to himself as “a federal Government liability” can be seen lamenting in Yoruba that Yahoo boys sent the police to arrest him.
The arrest, according to him, was unwarranted, and he said that he earns his money legitimately.
Trump’s lawyers have entreated a New York judge to prevent cameras in the courtroom to broadcast his arraignment on Tuesday.
This comes after several major media outlets requested access to the hearing.
In a letter to New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchant on Monday, Trump’s team said media outlets would “create a circus-like atmosphere at the arraignment” and “raise unique security concerns”, according to US media outlets.
Trump’s lawyers also argued the presence of media would be “inconsistent with President Trump’s presumption of innocence”, CNN reported.
The former president is on a plane from Florida to New York, and is using the time to share a few short posts on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“AMERICA FIRST!” he wrote, a slogan from his 2016 presidential election campaign. He also reiterated the claim that the indictment was a witch hunt.
Trump is expected to land in New York around 16:00 local time (20:00 GMT).
Leading opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has received a two-month suspended prison term for libel from a Senegalese court, according to his attorneys.
He was found guilty on Thursday of defaming Tourism Minister Mame Mbaye Niang, whom he accused of theft, by the court in the nation’s capital, Dakar.
Sonko will not be barred from standing in the presidential elections held in 2019 as a result of the sentencing, in what appears to be an effort by the authorities to appease his fans who have frequently turned to the streets to protest what they believe to be a politically driven campaign.
Still, a spokesperson for Sonko’s party expressed disappointment with the outcome of the trial, Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque reported from Dakar.
“He [Sonko] is disappointed that he is convicted for what he thinks is just him telling the truth [about the tourism minister],” said Haque.
However, a spokesperson for the governing party termed the verdict a “victory for democracy, rule of law, and the justice system”, added Haque.
“The opposition has always said the justice system serves the purpose of eliminating the opposition [leaders] that could be rivals to the president, but the ruling party says the verdict shows that democracy is thriving in Senegal,” Haque said.
A former tax inspector who transitioned to politics and became the leader of the Pastef opposition party, Sonko finished third in the 2019 presidential election. His popularity has since risen and he is considered today as incumbent President Macky Sall’s foremost political opponent.
Sonko faced libel charges brought against him by Mbaye Niang after accusing him of stealing 29 billion CFA francs ($47m) from a government agency. He denied wrongdoing and previously said the charges against him were a tactic to eliminate him from the presidential race.
The 48-year-old also faces separate charges of raping a beauty salon employee and making death threats to her in 2021. He has also denied wrongdoing in the sexual abuse case.
The cases have prompted violent protests across the country. Anger has also risen around fears Sall will use a recent change to the constitution to reset his mandate, which ends in 2024, allowing him to run for a third term.
Sall has shirked all questions about this, neither confirming nor denying the claim.
Police were deployed in large numbers in Dakar on Thursday, a day after security forces fired tear gas during clashes with students trying to hold a banned demonstration.
Shortly after the verdict was announced, said Dakar was no longer a “tense city” and that people were coming back to the street despite a heavy police presence.
Court action has been threatened against neighbours in Wales because of the height of their fences.
In response to enforcement notifications from the local council, residents of Lliswerry, Newport united.
In a circumstance that has been called “farcical,” three people have now been instructed to destroy their fences.
According to enforcement notices they got, they needed to get planning authorization.
The council’s chain reaction of fence furore began with Corinne Winslett.
Officials had noticed her taller-than-usual fence and investigated nearby properties.
Angela Cureton, 78, was next to find herself in deep water over her half-finished fence.
She told WalesOnline: ‘Just before December I received the first letter, and of course when I saw it I became very upset.
‘You can see the fence gives me privacy.
‘The letter said by law it shouldn’t have been erected and that I needed permission. I took it personally, I took it as though people had been complaining.
‘All my neighbours around here I know very well and it hurt to think that may have happened. I went and asked every individual about the fence and they said: “No, there is no problem with it Ang. It’s absolutely super.”‘
The council has sent Angela a diagram of what she needs to do to avoid court action which includes demolishing the fence and rebuilding it to around half its size.
She will struggle to find the funds to carry out the work.
Meanwhile, Corinne says she’s prepared to go to court over her fence which splits the driveways between her and her neighbour.
She said: ‘Mine started because of a complaint. They said they couldn’t see off the end of the drive. But if you drive around the estate you’ll see so many other similar fences. When I got the letter I thought it was a joke.
‘They’re all over Newport, there are hundreds and hundreds of fences like it.’
Lianne Garnett also found herself embroiled in the dispute over a composite fence which stretches a few metres outside her home.
She’s also received a notice in the last couple of months informing her she needs to remove the fence. She says it’ll leave her with no privacy in her garden.
The fence fury was hotly debated at a recent local authority meeting.
Councillor Allan Morris said: ‘The fences don’t look bad. If someone had made a fence out of crates you could understand. If people had been complaining to us we’d understand it, but we’ve not had anyone come to us.
‘It doesn’t make sense. We are talking about a time where the council can’t empty people’s bins every couple of weeks but they are prepared to spend money taking action in this way against people with fences that are attracting very few complaints.’
A council spokesperson said: ‘Newport City Council is legally obliged to investigate complaints in relation to breaches of planning regulations and, if necessary, take action including the serving of enforcement notices.
‘Enforcement notices were served on two properties in the Lliswerry area after complaints about unauthorised fences were received.
‘The council then received a large number of complaints about differing types of means of enclosures for the boundaries of properties in the area. Each was investigated but only four were found to be in breach of planning legislation.
‘As a result, enforcement notices were served in each case. Formal enforcement action is a last resort when negotiations have failed to resolve the breach of planning control.
‘There is an independent appeal process for people who wish to challenge the notice or an application that has been refused. Court action is only taken if remedial action is not undertaken by the property owner and the council would be able to recover its costs.’
Legal team for the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson in the ambulance case has informed the court that he did not authorize or issue any Letters of Credit.
They contend that this accusation is unfounded and ought to be dropped.
The attorneys contend that the prosecution has not presented enough evidence to support this charge in their legal representations to the court.
They have thus asked the court to acquit and discharge the accused.
“We submit that, to the extent that the evidence on record do not support but contradict these material allegations in the particulars of offences for Counts 1 and 5, the prosecution has failed to adduce sufficient evidence on key ingredients of the offences in Counts 1 and 5. Consequently, A1 must be acquitted and discharged.“
“Contrary to the assertions in the particulars of offence of Counts 1 and 5 that A1 ‘authorized’ or ‘caused’ irrevocable letters of credit to be established, it is clear from the evidence on record that A1 never ‘authorized’ or ‘caused irrevocable’ letters of credit to be established nor did A1 act in any manner without due cause and authorization.
“Exhibits A and B1, which bear the signature of A1 were transmitted to the Bank of Ghana under the authority of and on behalf of the Minister of Finance as confirmed by Exhibit 5 for A1….That claim is patently false,” the lawyers argued in their detailed submissions to the court.
They also stated that the prosecution of Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson is abuse of prosecutorial powers by the state.
According to them, the state was acting like a Leviathan, who has no regard for the rights and liberties of its citizens.
“We maintain that, in a reasoned decision, a court has a duty to clearly set out the legal principles and the evidence upon the decision is based.
“In addition, an adversarial system like ours, where the role of the court is primarily that of an umpire, places an additional duty on the Court to explain why it prefers one piece of evidence or argument to the other after carefully weighing the evidence relied on by the prosecution and the defence,” excerpts of their legal submission added.
Dr. Forson, who is also the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Ajumako Enyan Esiam, has been charged with Sylvester Anemana, a former Chief Director of the Ministry of Health and Richard Jakpa, a businessman, for allegedly causing financial loss of €2.37 million to the state in a deal to purchase some 200 ambulances for the country between 2014 and 2016.
A truck carrying 275 bags of dried cocoa beans on its way to Togo has been intercepted at the Aflao Border by the National Intelligence Bureau’s (NIB) Aflao Division.
The accused, Francis Ewuah, the driver, andEbenezer Tetteh, the truck owner, both 35 years old, have been detained by police prison pending investigations.
Cocoa smuggling through unapproved routes is rampant along the Ghana-Togo frontiers due to the porous nature of the borders.
At about 7pm last Monday, the 13th of March, the Aflao Division of the National Intelligence Bureau, NIB had a tip-off that some persons were transporting cocoa beans from Osinase in the Eastern Region through Aflao to neighboring Togo.
Upon reaching the Aflao-Togo Border, the NIB intercepted the truck with registration number GX 8579 22.
After a search on the vehicle, two hundred and seventy five bags of cocoa beans were found and upon interrogation, the two suspects admitted their involvement in the crime.
The Director in Charge of Special Services of the Ghana COCOBOD, Charles Amenyaglo briefed the media on the operation.
Mr. Amenyaglo commended the Aflao NIB command for its vigilance which led to the arrest of the suspects.
He appealed to the public to be vigilant and help the security agencies to arrest people who smuggle cocoa into Togo through illegal routes.
The truck has since been impounded by the Police and the suspects remanded for further investigations after appearing in Court.
Six suspects who were apprehended in connection with the March 4 slaying of Trooper Imoro Sherrif in Taifa, an Ashaiman neighborhood, have been denied bail by the Ashaiman Circuit Court this morning.
According to the prosecutor, Supt. Sylvester Asare, releasing the accused on bail would obstruct investigations in the courtroom presided over by Simon Gaga.
The Ghana Police Service described the circumstances surrounding the death of young trooper Imoro Sherrif on March 4 and the results of their initial investigations on Sunday night. These results included the arrest of six suspects who will appear in court on Monday. Read the police report in its entirety.
The Police after a week of sustained intelligence-led operations, have arrested six persons at different dates and various locations within Ashiaman and its environs for their suspected involvement in the murder of Imoro Sherrif, a soldier.
On March 4, Police received information that a male adult had been found lying dead at Ashiaman Taifa in the Greater Accra Region.
A team of Police officers proceeded to the said location and confirmed the incident.
Police immediately commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the victim. The officers cordoned off the scene and called in the specialist Police Crime Scene team to process the scene for forensic analysis.
The Crime Scene Team retrieved a number of items, including a knife with blood stains on it and a backpack. In the backpack, Police found a search Samsung tablet, an search Apple laptop, a military uniform with the name tag “Imoro”, eight other items of clothing, as well as a Ghana card and a Health Insurance card bearing the name Imoro Sherrif.
Judging from the contents of the backpack, the police suspected the victim could be a soldier, and in line with Police standard operating procedure for handling institution-based victims, the Military was accordingly notified of the incident and some military personnel came to identify the deceased to Police as Imoro Sheriff, a soldier.
The body of the deceased was thereafter conveyed to a hospital for preservation and autopsy.
As part of the investigation, an intelligence-led operation was immediately launched within Ashiaman and other strategic locations of interest to follow up on all relevant leads on the case.
On the same day, consistent with Ghanaian tradition and as part of the investigation process, a team of police officers after identifying the residence of the parents of the deceased, visited them, commiserated with them and assured them of a thorough investigation into the matter.
During the visit, the parents informed the Police that the deceased was stationed at Sunyani but had come to Accra on a course.
Investigations further revealed that on March 3, the deceased had visited a female friend at Ashaiman Newtown at about 10:30 pm and left the place in the middle of the night at about 01:30 am, on March 4.
After almost a week of painstaking intelligence-led operations, on March 9, the police arrested suspects Safianu Musah alias Dayorgu and Ibrahim Abdul Rakib at their hideouts in Ashaiman.
Two other suspects, Samuel Tetteh alias Wiper and Abubakar Sadick alias Birdman were also arrested at their hideouts on March 10.
Two additional suspects, Yussif Mohammed and Abdul Gafaru Abdul Karim were arrested on 11th and March 12, respectively.
Further investigation has established that suspects Samuel Tetteh and Abubakar Sadick at about 1:45 am on 4th March 2023 attacked the deceased at Taifa Ashiaman in an attempt to rob him of his phone and a backpack.
The deceased, however, resisted and struggled with the suspects. During the struggle, suspect Samuel Tetteh pulled out a knife and stabbed the deceased in the arm, snatched his phone and bolted leaving the deceased with the knife stuck in his arm.
A postmortem examination was performed on the deceased’s body on March 8, after which the pathologist gave the verbal cause of death as exsanguination and laceration of major vessels of the left arm consistent with the stabbed injury.
Investigations also revealed that suspects Samuel Tetteh and Abubakar Sadick sold the phone which they had robbed from the deceased to suspect Ibrahim Abdul Rakib who later sold it to suspect Safianu Musah.
Suspect Safianu Musah is being evasive as to the whereabouts of the phone and claims to have sold it to suspect Yussif Mohammed and later to suspect Abdul Gafaru Abdul Karim.
Both suspects have been arrested and are assisting in the investigation to recover the phone.
In response to a machete attack in a London pub, three men were charged with attempted murder.
On February 13, Walthamstow police were called to The Duke bar on Wood Street in response to stabbing reports.
At 8:16 p.m., police, paramedics, and the London Air Ambulance arrived at the site where three males had been found inside the pub with stab wounds.
The guys, who ranged in age from 27 to 42, were brought to a hospital in east London, where doctors determined that their wounds weren’t life-threatening.
Three counts of attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon were brought against Jayden Brown, a resident of The Avenue in Chingford.
The 22-year-old appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday and was remanded in custody until his next appearance at the Old Bailey on March 27.
Brandon Brown, 24 and of no fixed address, is jointly charged with three counts of attempted murder as of February 26.
Latest London news
Three men were found stabbed on February 13.
While Ruben Dyer, of Upper Walthamstow Road, faces one count of attempted murder.
The 27-year-old appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court on February 18 and was remanded in custody until this Friday, where he is due at Inner London Crown Court.
All three men have also been charged with possession of an offensive weapon.
A 15-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder and have been bailed until a date in late March, police added.
Detective inspector Laura Crump, from the local policing team in Waltham Forest, said: ‘Our investigation is making good progress, but we still need any witnesses who haven’t yet spoken to police to come forward.
‘I know this incident has caused significant concern in the community and I would like to reiterate that we believe this was a targeted attack with no wider risk to the public.’
Police said they do not believe the incident was gang-related.
A French court has ordered the removal of a statue of the Virgin Mary from a small town, alleging that the religious display violates the separation of church and state.
The statue is located at a crossroads in La Flotte, a municipality of 2,800 inhabitants on the popular holiday island Ile-de-Re, off France’s Atlantic coast.
The statue was erected by a local family after World War II in gratitude for a father and son having returned from the conflict alive.
Its initial home was a private garden, but the family later donated it to the town which set it up at the crossroads in 1983.
In 2020, it was damaged by a passing car, and the local authorities decided to restore the statue and put it back in the same place, but this time on an elevated platform.
Complaint
That move triggered a legal complaint by La Libre Pensee 17, an association dedicated to the defence of secularity, on the basis that a French law dating back to 1905 forbids religious monuments in public spaces.
A court in Poitiers followed the argument as did, on appeal, the regional court in Bordeaux, ordering La Flotte to remove the statue, according to a press statement.
Local mayor Jean-Paul Heraudeau called the discussion around the statue “ridiculous” because, he said, it was part of the town’s “historical heritage” and should be considered “more of a memorial than a religious statue”.
But while the court accepted that the authorities had not intended to express any religious preference, it also said that “the Virgin Mary is an important figure in Christian religion,” which gives it “an inherently religious character”.
According to Catholic doctrine going back to the New Testament, God chose Mary to give birth to Jesus while remaining a virgin, through the Holy Spirit.
Catholicism, and several other religions, venerate Mary as a central figure in their faith, and she has been the subject of countless works of art over the centuries.
La Flotte has six months to remove the statue, the court said.
A US appeals court has ended a “special master” review of documents seized from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
The ruling is a win for the US Department of Justice, which is probing if Mr Trump took classified documents with him when he left the White House.
The “special master” is an independent lawyer who decides if any of the records are covered under attorney-client or executive privilege.
Investigators can now review the documents in full.
The ruling was made on Thursday by a three-judge panel in the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit US Courts of Appeal, after the Department of Justice challenged a September decision that granted Mr Trump’s request for the special master review.
In its ruling, the appeals court wrote that there was no “judiciary license to interfere in an ongoing investigation”.
“The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so,” the court wrote.
A special master review would have delayed the Department of Justice’s inquiry into Mr Trump’s handling of classified documents, as the government was banned from reviewing or using the materials until it was complete.
Raymond Dearie, a 78-year-old New York judge who was first nominated by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1986, was assigned as the special master with his case.
It is unclear if Mr Trump and his lawyers will appeal against Thursday’s ruling.
Mr Trump is being investigated for allegedly taking national classified documents with him to his private Florida home in Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House.
The authorities say these documents should have been handed over to the National Archives – as required of US presidents upon leaving office.
The FBI seized 15 boxes of White House documents in January, which officials said contained “highly classified reports”, some of which were “intermixed with other records” and contained Mr Trump’s “handwritten notes”. They also seized another 20 boxes in August.
In total, the Department of Justice alleged that 11 sets of classified documents were taken from the White House by Mr Trump.
The former president denied any wrongdoing, and argued that he had declassified all the documents as president and that they were kept securely at his Mar-a-Lago home.
When requesting a special master, Mr Trump’s lawyers argued some of the documents are covered by attorney-client privilege – meaning they can be withheld under a US law that allows people to keep conversations with their lawyers private.
Trump records probe timeline
January 2022 – The National Archives retrieves 15 boxes of White House records from Mar-a-Lago, and says some of the documents it received at the end of Trump administration were torn up
February – Reports emerge that classified files were found in the Mar-a-Lago cache and National Archives has asked DoJ to investigate
April – US media report the FBI has begun a preliminary investigation
3 June – A senior DoJ official and three FBI agents travel to Mar-a-Lago to review items in a basement. According to Mr Trump, he told them: “Whatever you need, just let us know”
8 June – Federal investigators write to a Trump aide to ask that a stronger lock be used to secure the room storing the items. Trump says that request was quickly fulfilled
22 June – The Trump Organization receives a DoJ summons for CCTV footage from Mar-a-Lago
8 August – Dozens of agents search Mar-a-Lago, seizing more than 33 boxes, some containing top secret files, according to the warrant
12 August – Warrant released, showing that 11 sets of classified documents were taken
25 August – Judge orders justice department to release a redacted version of court papers that convinced him to authorise a search of the Trump estate
5 September – A judge grants Mr Trump’s request for a “special master” to review the documents
1 December – A US appeals court reverses the earlier special master decision, giving the DoJ full access to documents seized from Mar-a-Lago
Five suspects made up of three Nigerian nationals and 2 Ghanaians have been re-arrested after attempting to escape police custody.
The escapees were in detention following their arrest for various offences such as stealing mobile phones, and air-conditioners among others.
According to a Dailyguidenetwork.com report, the suspects made their move on Monday, November 21, 2022, at about 1 am with the help of a chisel and a hammer.
Their attempt was in a bid to evade court arraignment within the week.
The suspects succeeded in breaking the iron bars of the cell but saw their efforts thwarted by the officers on duty who became alarmed by the unusual noise emanating from the cells.
The Awutu Bereku Police Command has since rounded up the suspects and transferred them to a different police station for safekeeping pending their trial.
The Takoradi Habour Circuit court A, presided over by His worship Michael Kwodjoe Ampadu, is expected to give judgement today in the case involving Josephine Panyin Mensah, the lady from Columbia in Takoradi who was allegedly kidnapped while pregnant.
Josephine Panyin Mensah has been charged with two counts of deceiving a public officer contrary to section 251 (B) of the Criminal office’s Act and Publication of false news with intent to cause fear and panic contrary to section 208 subsection 1 of the act of the criminal offence.
Josephine, who has been facing prosecution since September 2021 when she was found at Axim, showed up at the Takoradi Habour Court looking pregnant, but the court is expected to receive pregnancy test results today before judgement in the substantive case.
Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in the Eastern Region, has taken twenty-one (21) customers to court for nonpayment of a total of Ghc279,755.83 as of June this year.
EREDEC, KES hotels, KAMA Group of Companies, Antarctic Contract Works Ltd., Trinity Presbyterian Church, Adweso, Donewell Methodist Church in Jumapo, and Jumapo Health Center are among the notable customers who have been hauled before the court.
The GWCL has already disconnected these customers, but they have refused to pay the company’s debt for water consumed, thus the legal action.
Her Lordship Nana Ama Fynn, presided over by the Koforidua District Court, has referred approximately nine of the cases for resolution to alternative dispute resolution.
The Eastern Regional Chief Manager of GWCL, Ing. Asomani Nyarko, indicated that the company will not relent in this pursuit of retrieving all arrears from customers who are owing, whether disconnected or active.
He entreated customers who are owing to pay up, contact the nearest GWCL office to negotiate a payment plan before they are made to face the law.
“This exercise is targeted at all our customers owing in the Eastern Region, whether disconnected or active”., he added.
Meanwhile, Management of GWCL is still in court with the assembly member and the Chief of Oterkpolu for allegedly inciting residents not to pay water bills after their petition for free water supply was declined by the GWCL.
Communities around the Bukunor water treatment plant including Oterkpolu and Bukunor have refused to pay water bills since 2019 stating that, they are entitled to free water supply since raw water is pumped and treated on their land for distribution to other parts of the Eastern region.
They have since threatened GWCL over any attempt to disconnect the Communities.
The situation coupled with hostility meted out to workers of GWCL at the Bukunor Water treatment plant got the Eastern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) to intervene and attempted to resolve the impasse but to no avail forcing GWCL to take legal action.
The Supreme Court of Ghana has delivered a damaging blow to Anas Aremeyaw Anas after ordering the journalist to appear in open court without his usual face mask to face Kwesi Nyantakyi.
The highest ruling body in Ghana ruled on Tuesday morning that the reluctant journalist must appear in court without any face mask covering to testify in the case with the former Ghana FA President.
Anas, who has been extremely reluctant to appear in court let alone without his mask, will now be publicly seen in court in his real flesh as he testifies in court.
This comes after the Supreme Court quashed an earlier ruling by a lower court giving permission to Anas to testify in camera.
The journalist, whose investigation led to Nyantakyi resigning several football posts, claimed his life would be in danger if he testifies in court.
The order of the High Court 2, Criminal Division granted permission to Anas Aremeyaw Anas to testify on camera in the case against Kwesi Nyantakyi.
But on appeal by lawyers of Nyantakyi, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the former football chief and asked Anas to appear in flesh to be cross-examined in open court by Nyantakyi.
By this decision of the Supreme Court Anas Amereyaw Anas must give evidence in open court.
Nyantakyi is fighting his case against the controversial journalist in a bid to clear his name.
The former Ghana FA capo is serving a global ban following the documentary.
Nyantakyi, who was rising to the very top of global football administration, had to step aside from his roles with Caf including as 1st vice-president, the most senior figure at the confederation after its former president, Ahmad.
Nyantakyi and other football officials from around the continent were secretly filmed by undercover reporters receiving cash gifts as part of a documentary by controversial Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
The Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu, has been convicted of reckless and inconsiderate driving.
The lawmaker was arrested on Thursday, November 3, 2022, after he was seen driving in the middle of the road around the Airport by-pass in his V8 vehicle with no regard for law-abiding pedestrians and other road users.
The vehicle was impounded by the Police, and he was arraigned before the La District Court on November 4, 2022, on the charges of reckless and inconsiderate driving, driving in the middle of the road facing oncoming traffic and causing danger to other road users.
A statement from the Police said he was convicted by the court and fined an amount of GH¢2,400.
The court further directed him to remove the front beacon lights which had been unlawfully fitted on his vehicle.
According to the police, the MP subsequently paid the fine and removed the unlawfully installed lights before the vehicle was released to him.
“We would like to entreat all drivers to be mindful of the safety of other road users at all times to prevent avoidable accidents and their associated deaths and injuries, especially as the Christmas season approaches. The Police remain committed to ensuring safety and security on our roads as we deliver on our core mandate of protecting life and property as well as maintaining law and order in the country,” police urged in the statement.
The Accra Circuit Court has granted GHc250,000 bail to a married couple for allegedly engaging in prohibited business related to suspected narcotic drugs and giving bribes to influence a public officer.
The pleas of Mr. Richard Mensah, a 40-year-old carpenter, and Ms. Augustina Yawa Benuyewa, a 35-year-old trader, were not taken as the substance was yet to be tested.
Mr. Mensah was charged with prohibited business related to narcotic drugs, while the wife, Ms Benuyewa, was also charged with giving a bribe to influence a public officer on behalf of her husband.
The court, presided over by Mrs. Ellen Offei-Ayeh, admitted Mr. Mensah to bail in the sum of GH₵150,000.00, while Madam Benuyewa was granted GH₵100,000.00 bail with three gainfully employed sureties each, one to be justified.
The court ordered Mr Mensah to report to the Accra Regional CID every Monday and adjourned the case to November 28, 2022, for their pleas to be taken.
Police Inspector Daniel Ofori Appiah, prosecuting, told the court that the complainants were police personnel of the Regional Alpha Swat Patrol Team, whilst the couple resided at Abeka Flat Top.
The prosecution said Mr Mensah had allegedly engaged in the sale of Indian hemp to the youth in the community.
Insp Appiah said the police arrested Mr Mensah for allegedly selling Indian hemp, and a search conducted in his room revealed a number of dried leaves, suspected to be Indian hemp (wee).
The prosecution said when Mr. Mensah was taken to the Regional Police Headquarters for investigation, Ms. Benuyewa offered GH₵20,000.00 to the leader of the Patrol Team to withdraw the case against her husband, and she was also arrested.
The State has disclosed it will call 11 witnesses in its criminal case against Chinese galamsey Queen, Aisha Huang.
The first witness is billed to appear before the High Court next Wednesday, November 9, 2022.
The Attorney General brought fresh charges against the acclaimed illegal miner shortly after she was busted in Kumasi by National Security and arraigned in the Accra Circuit Court.
In a virtual arraignment two months ago, the Attorney General’s Department said it was charging Aisha Huang with undertaking a mining operation without a license, facilitating the participation of persons engaged in a mining operation, illegal employment of foreigners, and re-entering Ghana while under prohibition so to do.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakorah Obuobisa, told the Court on Wednesday that some of the witnesses have audiovisual materials which will be played in the course of their testimonies.
She said all documents the State intends to rely on have also been duly filed and served, and they are ready to proceed to trial.
Lawyer for Aisha Huang, Captain (Rtd.) Nkrabeah Effah Dartey told the court they had indeed received the “voluminous encyclopedic documents they [Prosecution] filed.”
The Court is thus adjourned to November 9, for trial to commence.
The Assemblyman for Denkyira Obuasi, William Baah, who is standing trial together with 13 others for their respective roles in the lynching of Major Maxwell Mahama, has said he did not order the killing of the young military officer.
William Baah, who is the first accused person, also told the Court that the late Major Mahama “did not give me a chance to find out who he was.”
The Assemblyman, who is also a teacher and referred to by many as Misty, has denied the charge of abetment, with the 13 others also pleading not guilty to the charges of conspiracy and murder.
Mounting his defence to the charge of abetment, William Baah told the High Court in Accra that he tried to know major Mahama’s mission in the town, but he “pointed a gun at me.”
Being led by his lawyer George Bernard Shaw to give his Evidence-in-Chief, William Baah said his responsibility as an Assemblyman is to protect lives in the area, including “strangers.”
“I am in Assemblyman for Denkyira Obuasi. It is my responsibility to protect the lives of the people in the community and even strangers,” he told the Court.
“It is not my intention to harm anyone, and when the incident happened, I tried to go and ask the victim (Major Mahama) who he was and what his mission in the town was.
“Since he did not give me the chance to find out who he was but rather pointed a gun at me, I had no option than to go to the police station to report for the police to come for him,” the accused told the Court.
According to him, “as at the time I was going to the police station, no one had touched the victim or abused him verbally.”
No order to murder
“What I have been charged with by the police is that I have abetted the killing of the deceased. I did not order anyone to use a stick or gun to murder the deceased.
He added that “When I was going there, I was not holding any stick or cutlass or gun” and “since I was born, till I got to JHS level, I have never gotten into a fight before, and I had never seen my parents fighting.”
The accused also told the Court that “it would be very difficult for me as an assemblyman to incite people to pick up weapons to attack any person and kill that person.”
He concluded his Evidence-in-Chief, saying “I do not know anything about what I have been charged with.”
Call to Police Commander
William Baah had told the Court that, after he had made enquiries about where the gun major Mahama was holding after the incident, he called the police commander.
“I called the Police Commander, and I told him I have been trying to reach him on the phone but have not been able to get through to him, and I told him what had happened.”
The Police Commander he said confirmed to him that the person had died after he was conveyed to the hospital.
He told the Court that, after the crowd at the crime scene had cleared, he left back to school.
Fear and panic
William Baah also told the Court that a friend of his at Diaso called and informed him that he had heard that the person who died was a soldier.
This information, he said, led to some of the people in the town running away.
Explaining to the Court why the people were running away, he said, “in the beginning, they thought they had killed an armed robber, but when they heard that the victim was a soldier, they panicked and started to run away.
Commander advised me to go into hiding
“I called the police commander on phone and talked with him, and he told me now that it had been confirmed that the victim was a soldier, and they had come to his office.”
He added: “I asked him what would be done now and when the soldiers come to the town, they wouldn’t know who is who, so I should go into hiding for now.
“So, I left that town and went to a town called Ampa Abena in the Diaso District.”
He told the Court that he stayed at Ampa Abena for two days, but upon hearing his name mentioned on the radio, that he had run away and the police were looking for him for investigation, he called the Commander and disclosed his location, and they came for him.
Time with the Police
He told the Court that, after he was picked from his location, he was taken to the Cape Coast Police Station and interrogated.
He told the Court that, after interrogation, they took him to Police Headquarters handcuffed.
“They handcuffed me and made me sit at the edge of the seat with my toes suspended, and I was shaking, and anytime I try sitting properly, they scold me that we have killed a soldier.”
Statements, video
He also told the Court that he moved to another office after telling him that some people had come, and “they showed me a video of what had happened, and they asked me to show them where I was standing and the dress I was wearing.”
He said when he was brought back to the Cape Coast Police headquarters, some of the things that he said were not captured in his statement.
“After my statement was taken, it was read back to me, and I realised I said some things that were not taken down, so I told him (officer), so he slammed his hand on the table, and I panicked.”
He added that the officer told him, “I was not the one to show him how to do his work.”
The Court presided over by Justice Mariama Owusu, a Justice of the Supreme Court sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, has adjourned the sitting to October 31 for further Cross Examination.
Background
The late Major Mahama of the 5th Infantry Battalion, Burma Camp, Accra, was on duty at Denkyira-Obuasi, and on May 29, 2017, some residents allegedly mistook him for an armed robber and lynched him.
The mob had ignored his persistent plea that he was an officer of the Ghana Armed Forces.
The Assembly Member and 13 others are still in prison custody after they pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit crime, murder, abetment of crime and other charges.
They are Baah, Bernard Asamoah, alias Daddy, Kofi Nyame,a.k.a Abortion, AkwasiBoah, Kwame Tuffour, Joseph Appiah Kubi, Michael Anim and Bismarck Donkor.
Others are John Bosie, Akwasi Baah, Charles Kwaning, Emmanuel Badu, Bismarck Abanga and Kwadwo.
The Head Pastor and Founder of Glorious Wave Church International Prophet, Emmanuel Kobi Badu, has prophesied that a popular woman in Ghana who is currently being prosecuted will not be found guilty of any crime.
During a sermon in his church, Prophet Badu Kobi said that the state’s prosecution of the woman has no future.
He suggested that the enemies of the said woman should be well prepared because they would be haunted after her release.
“There is a certain woman in Ghana here, people are talking about her for the past few weeks. Whatever is happening to her, it has no future.
“Nothing will ever happen to her. Nothing, she will walk free. And when she walks free, enemies must stand well.
“What will happen after, what happened to her, it will turn and follow enemies. And it will not be easy for her enemies,” he said in a video shared by Kofi Radio, which was sighted by GhanaWeb.
Even though, Prophet Badu Kobi did not mention any name, social media users have claimed, the prophecy is about Evangelist Mama Pat, founder of Heavenway Champion International Ministry, Evangelist Mama Pat.
Evangelist Mama Pat, popularly known as Nana Agradaa, is currently being prosecuted for allegedly defrauding some of her church members.
An Accra circuit court has granted bail to the founder of Heaven Way Champion International Ministry, Patricia Asiedua, a.k.a. Nana Agradaa, in the sum of GH¢150,000 with three sureties.
Nana Agradaa is facing 7 charges, including defrauding her church members by false pretence in court.
She has, however, pleaded not guilty to her charges.
As part of the bail conditions, she is expected to provide three sureties, of whom one must be justified with a title deed.
She is also required to deposit her passport at the court registry.
Prior to this, Nana Agradaa was granted bail in the amount of GHC50,000 with three sureties in her first case.
As part of her bail conditions, Agradaa is supposed to report to police every Wednesday.
Background:
The Ghana Police Service arrested repented fetish priestess, Nana Agradaa, now known as Evangelist Mama Pat, on Sunday, October 9, 2022.
“The Police have arrested Patricia Asiedua alias Nana Agradaa following allegations of money-doubling scam levelled against her by some members of the public. The suspect is currently assisting police investigation,” a statement from the police said.
Nana Agradaa’s arrest comes on the back of allegations made by scores of her church members, who claimed that she had scammed them after an all-night service.
The former fetish priestess had advertised in a viral video that she was going to give out monies to people who would attend her all-night church service on Friday, October 7, 2022.
Things, however, did not go as planned for many of the people who attended the service as many of them cried foul that they had given out monies to her but she failed to keep to her side of the agreement.
She is eventually reported to have sent the people away from the church, prompting the alarms they raised online.
The police have since called on all persons who were affected by the supposed scam to report to the Accra Regional Police Command to help with the investigations.
The High Court in Accra presided over by Justice Eric Baah has fixed February 16, next year, (2023), to deliver judgement in the case in which Ace Investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas has sued Kennedy Agyepong for defamation.
The Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP) is facing a GHc25M sum from Anas over some comments he (MP) had allegedly made against the investigative journalist in public after airing his investigative piece #Number 12, which exposed some rots in Ghana Football.
Justice Eric Baah, a Justice of the Court of Appeal who is sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, fixed the date after the parties had ended their testimonies.
EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent Murtala Inusah reports that the lawyers have been directed to file their written addresses by December 6, 2022, and they would be back in 2023 for judgement.
Background
Sometime in 2018, the ace international investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas dragged the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Mr Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, to court for defaming him.
Anas was asking the High Court to award aggravated damages to the tune of GH¢25 million arising from defamatory materials published by the MP.
He said the MP had been publishing materials in his bid to discredit the investigative journalist, who has released an explosive piece on the rot in Ghana football.
Displeased with the MP’s actions, Anas has, through his lawyer, Mr Kissi Agyebeng, sued Mr Agyapong for the award of general damages for defamation in the defendant’s publications.
A journalist, Mr Listowell Yesu Bukarson, has been granted the lawful attorney to stand in for Anas.
Publications
The publication complained of are May 29, 2018 live programme in Twi on Adom TV, where Mr Agyapong categorically stated that Anas was a blackmailer, corrupt, an extortionist and evil.
According to the statement of claim, the defendant, in a similar manner, published defamatory words on May 31, 2018 via Oman FM, a private radio station owned by the defendant.
The statement of claim also stated that the defendant published more defamatory materials against the plaintiff via other platforms to the extent of releasing pictures purported to be those of the investigative journalist in his bid to blow the latter’s cover.
A Gender Based Court has rescinded a bench warrant issued for the arrest of Kofi Owusu Hene, aka Kofi Kapito, Chief Executive Officer of the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA).
“Sir, I have rescinded the bench warrant. Next time, you will not be lucky, ” the trial Judge, Mrs Christina Cann said when court sitting resumed today, Thursday, October 20, 2022.
The accused is said to have reported early to court Wednesday because of the pending bench warrant.
The Court last Tuesday, issued a warrant for the arrest of Kofi Kapito after he had failed to appear before it.
When the Court started hearing the matter, Madam Nana Yaa Ayewa Dwumfour, the first prosecution witness and the complainant, mounted the witness box.
She tendered her witness statement and was cross-examined by Kofi Kapito’s lawyers.
The CEO of CPA is being held on the charges of deprivation of the use property of deceased persons, engaging in domestic violence to wit Economic Abuse and causing unlawful damage.
The accused is alleged to have deprived his late brother’s wife a house the couple had jointly acquired allegedly at Ogbojo, near East Legon and said to have threatened to dispose off the property, which the deceased’s wife has interest in.
The Criminal Jurisdiction of the Accra High Court has empanelled a seven-member jury for the trial of two teenagers accused of the murder of a 10-year-old boy in Kasoa for money rituals.
That was after the court, presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, took the pleas of the teenagers, a 15-year-old boy (name withheld) and his alleged accomplice, who is 18 years old.
The jury is made up of five women and two men.
The two suspects objected to the inclusion of three persons from the pool of potential jurors before settling on the seven.
Not guilty
While the 15-year-old suspect has confessed to their involvement in the murder from the District Court, the 18-year-old suspect has, however, denied his involvement.
However, taking their pleas on charges of conspiracy and murder before the trial court last Tuesday, the 15-year-old suspect pleaded guilty to the charge or conspiracy but pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.
The 18-year-old suspect on the other hand pleaded not guilty to both charges.
The court, however, entered a plea of not guilty for the 15-year-old suspect.
That was because the offence was conspiracy to murder and as a result, had to be tried by the jury.
The charges were read to them in their preferred local languages.
Jury
The jury is made up of seven ordinary, but educated persons, who, subject to the directions of the judge, decide the guilt or innocence of an accused in a case tried upon indictment.
After the seven-member jury had been empanelled, they were sworn in and they chose one of their own as a leader (foreman).
They are expected to arrive at a unanimous verdict which is binding on the court.
Advise
The presiding judge advised the jury to be present in court at all times to listen to, see and hear the witnesses that will be called by the prosecution in their quest to establish the guilt of the accused persons.
“You are not supposed to be influenced by anything you hear or see relating to this matter on social media or in the society.
“You are only bound by the evidence that you hear or see in this courtroom,” the presiding judge said.
Justice Marfo also urged them to comport themselves inside and outside of the courtroom diligently.
“You must not be influenced with money or any other consideration whatsoever.
“The court expects maximum cooperation from you as far as timing and dates are concerned.
“The court will not hesitate to apply the necessary legal sanction to any recalcitrant juror,” she added.
Next sitting
At the next sitting slated for October 24, 2022, counsel for the accused are expected to address the jury on their expectation in the case while the prosecution addresses the jury on its case after which counsel for the accused persons will be given the chance to respond, paving the way for the trial to officially commence.
Meanwhile, the investigator in the case is expected to file the report on the investigation of the notice of alibi filed by the 18-year-old suspect through his lawyers.
In my candid opinion, former Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Freddie Blay’s law firm should not have accepted to defend accused persons in the ongoing illegal mining case pending before the Accra High Court, Mr Obiri Boahen, a former General Secretary of the NPP has said.
In a radio interview monitored by Graphic Online on Accra based Okay FM on Wednesday morning, Nana Obiri Boahen said Mr Blay’s firm should have allowed other lawyers to stand in for the accused persons.
On Tuesday in court, Lucy Ekeleba Blay, a private legal practitioner, told the court that she was holding brief for Mr Freddy Blay in the case of the four accomplices of En Huang, popularly known as Aisha Huang, who has been charged with the others for engaging illegal mining activities in Ghana.
The four accomplices are Gao Jin Cheng, Lu Qi Jun, Haibin Go and Zhang Zhipeng.
Mr Freddie Blay is the lead counsel for the firm in which Lucy Ekeleba Blay works.
Already, Mr Blay has clarified that he is not the one who is personally handling the case but confirms that it is the law firm he belongs to that is handling the case.
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Jomoro, Dorcas Affo-Toffey, was the subject of an intense cross-examination at the Sekondi High Court on Monday, October 10, 2022.
The MP, whose citizenship at the time of filing her nomination for parliamentary election is being challenged in court, was subjected to questioning over documents of her Ivorian citizenship renunciation presented to the court.
Counsel for the petitioner in the case, Bright Agyekum, sought to present to the court that the MP’s attempt to allude to the documents renouncing her Ivorian citizenship is nothing less than an afterthought.
Challenging the MP’s testimony, Mr Agyekum argued that the documents of renunciation alluded to by Dorcas Affo-Toffey did not exist before the commencement of the trial against her.
The lawyer for the petitioner referenced a letter dated January 24, 2019, in which the MP wrote to the Attorney General of Ivory Coast that she was renouncing her citizenship.
The lawyer further mentioned another letter dated January 29, 2019, in which the Ivorian Attorney General’s Office acknowledged receipt of the letter issued by the Jomoro MP on January 24, 2019.
“I am putting it to you that both letters were complete afterthoughts,” Mr. Agyekum is quoted in a report by Dailyguidenetwork.com in his argument that Affo-Toffey did not qualify to run for the Jomoro seat as MP in 2020.
The petitioner’s lawyer also questioned Dorcas Affo-Toffey on why she had to remind the Ivorian authorities in March and April 2021 about her intention to renounce her citizenship way back in 2019.
The defendant, in response, said she was minded to do so because of the case in court.
“So the Ivorian authorities issued you with an attestation on April 12, 2021,” the petitioner’s lawyer further questioned, to which the MP responded in the affirmative.
Bright Agyekum further said that the stamp appearing on the documents attached to her witness statement was not an original one emanating from the Ivorian Justice Ministry, but the MP disagreed with the assertion.
In her case, Madam Affo-Toffey alluded that her Ivorian citizenship renunciation was automatically effected by her showing of interest in doing so. This, she said, was provided for in Article 48 of the Ivorian Nationality Code.
But the petitioner’s lawyer, during his cross-examination of the MP, suggested that the provisions she alluded to do not cover her.
“I cannot answer. I will leave it with my lawyer to answer that question,” she responded.
Background
A resident of the Jomoro Constituency, Emuah Kofie Nuba-Mpataba, in 2021 filed a suit accusing Dorcas Affo-Toffey of not being a Ghanaian citizen at the time of filing her parliamentary contest nomination.
According to the petitioner, the NDC MP, by the provision of Ghana’s electoral laws, was not qualified to contest in the 2020 parliamentary election because she held dual citizenship.
A judge in Guinea has rejected a request from a former military ruler, Moussa Dadis Camara, that he be placed under house arrest rather than remain in prison during his trial for mass murder.
Captain Camara was returned to the country last month after 12 years in exile.
He’s on trial together with 10 other former officials over atrocities that took place in 2009 soon after he seized power.
He’s charged with being responsible for the killing by soldiers of more than 150 people and the rape of more than 100 womenat an opposition rally in a Conakry stadium.
Drama ensued during proceedings in an Accra Circuit Court on Monday, October 10, 2022, when the founder and leader of Heavenway Champion International Ministries was brought before the court.
Evangelist Patricia Oduro Koranteng was put before the court on charges of defrauding by false pretence and charlatanic advertisement in the media.
According to Angel FM’s court correspondent, Ama Brako Ampofo, the suspect took exception when the prosecutor mentioned her name while reading out her charges in court.
“When she was brought in, her name was mentioned as Patricia Oduro but when she entered the box, she objected that she is not Patricia Oduro Asiedu but her name is Reverend Doctor Patricia Oduro,” the correspondent narrated.
Charged on counts, Agradaa is said to have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The court which denied her bail has scheduled her reappearance for Thursday, October 13, 2022.
Even before his case was heard in court, a thief by the name of Daniel Laryea, tried a more unconventional attempt with the woman he had stolen from, hoping it could have been the perfect getaway for him: two slaps and I go scot-free.
This, however, was rejected and he had his day in court, getting twelve months in jail imprisonment from a magistrate of an Accra court in April 1959.
According to the Wednesday, April 1, 1959, edition of the Ghana Times newspaper in GhanaWeb’s possession, with the title, “’Mad’ thief asked for two slaps,” it details the rather intriguing court case of how Daniel Laryea wanted to get easily for his crime.
The man, an unemployed resident of Accra, was in court for stealing seven yards of a white drill from a market woman at the Makola No. 1 market, Madam Florence Quaye.
According to the report, Laryea made more than one attempt at getting off the hook even before the case was heard in court.
“Madam Florence Quaye, whose white drill was stolen, told the court that later after Daniel Laryea was asserted, he went to ask her privately to see the police to dismiss the case. Thomas Kwesi Hammond, who arrested the accused at the market told the court that Laryea pleaded to be freed.
“’He asked me to give him two slaps and set him free.’ Of course, the police did not slap him, he took Laryea to the station and charged him with the offence,” portions of the newspaper report stated.
The report added that on the day of the judgment, the thief acted very absentminded and stubbornly, refusing to answer questions asked him.
It was when the Magistrate, E. A. Bannerman, interjected that Daniel Laryea left perhaps, his last dose of theatrics, although it wasn’t enough to save him.
“Then the Senior Magistrate, who must have been a spectator to many of such tricks, told Laryea in a cool advising voice: ‘I have seen this several times, have you anything to tell me?’
“Then Laryea, struggling with the police in the dock, tried the last trick: ‘Your Worship, I am hungry, I can’t do anything,” it added.
The Ghana Times report concluded by providing a criminal history of the thief.
“According to his record, Laryea had six previous convictions of stealing,” it concluded.
The Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah is urging judges and magistrates not to be influenced by public criticisms in discharging their duty.
“Yours is to dispense justice and to uphold the rule of law irrespective of public clamour,” the Chief Justice said.
The judiciary has come under criticism in recent times, with President Akufo-Addo describing it as unwarranted attacks which must be condemned.
At the 2022 General Meeting of the Association of Magistrates and Judges, Justice Anin-Yeboah also said criticism of the judiciary must be constructive.
“As the saying goes, you will not value what you have unless you lose it. On this line, the consequence of losing what you have, in terms of our justice system, will be unthinkable.”
Deputy Attorney General, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah who attended the event attributed the recent attacks on the Judiciary to what he describes as a distorted coverage of court proceedings by some media firms.
He thus urged the media to collaborate with the judiciary to ensure fair reportage.
“This collaboration will undoubtedly ensure that accurate and fair information is made available to the consuming public.”
“Public perceptions of the judiciary are often coloured by misunderstandings of decisions and judgments of the court,” Mr. Tuah-Yeboah said.
A barber who went to visit his friend on remand at Baatsona Police Station, has ended in Police cells for possessing drugs.
Abdulai Hamza was grabbed with 13 wrappers of whitish substances and three wrappers of plant materials, all suspected to be narcotic drugs.
Charged with two counts of unlawful possession or control of narcotic drugs, Hamza pleaded not guilty.
Hamza told police personnel that, “I forgot about myself when I went to the Police Station.”
Hamza has been remanded into lawful custody by the court presided over by Mrs Rosemary Baah Tosu and he is expected to reappear on October 10.
Prosecuting Police Inspector Josephine Lamptey said the complainants were Police personnel from Baatsona Police Station.
Inspector Lamptey said accused who resided at Baatsona, on September 18, this year, called at the Station to visit his friend known as Gideon Sedzro, a remand prisoner.
Prosecution said Hamza was there to ask Sedzro what he would like to eat.
The prosecutor said the Police gave him permission to talk to his friend.
However, prosecution said, the Police suspected him following his suspicious gestures and movements.
Prosecution said therefore conducted a search on him and 13 wrappers of whitish substance and three wrappers of plant material suspected to be narcotic drugs were found.
According to prosecution, the alleged narcotic drugs were found in Hamza’s shirt which he claimed ownership.
The prosecutor said the exhibits had been forwarded to the Forensic Science Laboratory for analytical examination.
Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has expressed disgust over the way the government andpoliticians are treating the Chinese galamsey queen, Aisha Huang‘s case.
Aisha Huang was arrested in Kumasi for engaging in illegal mining activities, although she was repatriated to China in 2018.
The galamsey queen re-entered Ghana slyly and continued her activities until her recent arrest.
She has since been arraigned before court and refused bail.
However, the Aisha Huang story has dominated discussions on illegal mining in the country.
But to Kwesi Pratt, Aisha Huang is not the solution to the illegal mining menace in Ghana, “so, why have we reduced everything to Aisha Huang?”
Making his submissions on Peace FM’s “Kokrokoo” programme, he further questioned; “Will imprisoning Aisha Huang end galamsey?”
“The problem is not Aisha Huang . . . I can’t understand it. Now, wherever you go, it’s Aisha Huang. When you buy newspaper, it’s Aisha Huang. On radio and television is Aisha Huang. It’s like Aisha Huang is the problem. She has now become shortcode for galamsey . . . Before Aisha Huang was born, we knew the problem in the gold industry,” he added.
He charged the government to stay focused on the fight against the menace and stop making the galamsey queen appear like her arrest is the end to galamsey.
An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced Gabriel Gyamerah Sarpong, a staff of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, to 15 months imprisonment over fraud.
Sarpong had collected over GH¢200,000 from illegal miners to be given to Mr George Mireku Duker, deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources.
Appearing in court last Friday, Sarpong pleaded guilty to defrauding by false pretences.
The court presided over by Mrs Evelyn Asamoah convicted Sarpong on his own plea.
Sarpong however denied the charge of falsely pretending to be a public officer.
The court therefore adjourned the matter to October 12 and ordered the prosecution to file its disclosures in respect of the charge of falsely pretending to be a public officer.
Mr Muda Ade Lawal, defence counsel in praying for a non-custodial sentence, said Sarpong was a good citizen and IT specialist until the devil pushed him to the vice.
“If given custodial sentence he will be mixed with hardened criminals and will come out worse,” counsel submitted.
According to counsel, the convict was sober and he has regretted his actions hence his admission of guilt.
“Tamper justice with mercy to hand him non-custodial sentence,” he prayed the court.
Defence counsel opined that the convict had a wife and two children and if given custodial sentence, his wife and children would suffer.
Assistance Superintendent of Police (ASP) Evans Kesse told the court that the complainant was George Mireku-Duker, a Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources.
He said sometime in December 2021, the convict contacted a witness in the case to meet so they could talk about a business deal.
The prosecution said the following week, the witness met the convict and told him that the business was about mining and since the witness had been to various mining sites in the country, he could best execute the task.
He said same month, the convict called the witness on phone and told him that the Deputy Minister had authorized that the witness could mobilise his men to operate as such.
The prosecution said the convict then gave a fake MTN number as the Deputy Minister’s contact number, through which he could call when he needed him.
The witness then mobilised his men and went to Obuasi, met the police and called the MTN number accused gave to him as the Deputy Minister’s number.
Prosecution said the convict, who responded as the said Deputy Minister, told the Obuasi Divisional Commander to offer the team any assistance it needed.
The prosecutor said the witness after their operations realised over GH¢200,000 and sent same to the convict who had impersonated the Deputy Minister.
ASP Kesse said the witness after operating at Obuasi decided to proceed to Manso Nkwanta for another operation and met the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), where the witness told the MCE about his mission there and tried reaching out to the Deputy Minister on the MTN number given to him by the convict but there was no response.
The Manso Nkwanta MCE then alerted the witness that it would be in his own interest to come down to Accra to meet with the Deputy Minister and verify if the Deputy Minister had really sanctioned their task.
On September 13,2022, the witness met with the Deputy Minister and disclosed that he had been working at the mining sites on his authorization.
The prosecution said the Deputy Minister denied knowledge of it and sent for the convict whom after questioning was handed over to the police.
The convict in his investigation caution statement admitted to the offence and indicated that he used part of the money he received from the witness to purchase a black Elantra saloon vehicle and invested part of it into his building located at Amasaman.
Speaking to the media on September 15, Mr Otokunor suggested that the nolle prosequi that allowed her release in 2018 was submitted in court while speaking with the media outside of a press conference for the NDC.
He asserted that gold was the solution to the Cedi’s depreciation, but the resource has been given to Aisha Huang and her exploitation schemes.
Mr Otokunor stated that she has further been emboldened to carry out her activities as a result of funding she gives the NPP with – a reason why the governing party was defending her.
Otukonor warned that citizens would not sit aloof for the NPP to take them on a fools ride.
“We are suffering one of the worst currency challenges in the history of this country. Gold has the solution to this problem. They are not paying taxes on the galamsey. She is smuggling the gold.
“She is doing all manner of things against our law and because NPP is in government and maybe they claim she’s their financier, they are defending her and they want all of us to follow suit.
“I mean all of us cannot be fools in this country. If perhaps they have been deceived by Aisha Huang because she has given them some pittances or because Bawumia went cap in hand begging them for money and she led them to go and raise funds for their campaign, that doesn’t mean we the citizens of this country must sit down and allow them to rip the nation off,” he said.
Asked if he had any basis for his claim about Ms. Huang being a financier of NPP, he said “I mean if she is not a financier of the NPP, I wonder how somebody who is supposed to have been deported and the president admitting that she has been deported.
Otokunor further berated the president over his state of unawareness on the ‘deportation’ status of Aisha Huang.
He described the president’s attitude as one which has become one too many and of great concern.
“…I wonder how somebody who is supposed to have been deported and the president admitting that she has been deported. The senior minister, if you want the prime minister Osafo-Maafo saying that she has been deported, all of a sudden the president is playing dumb and saying that he doesn’t know that the woman has been deported.
“I think that it is becoming one to many and it is becoming a worrying trend. You have a sitting president who always says that he is not aware of decisions he himself has undertaken.
“The President has issued executive instrument and he says he is not aware. He has written letters of authority and he says he is not aware. Corruption appears under him and everybody is talking about it and he says he is not aware.
“Today, Aisha Huang, he is saying that he is not aware that Aisha Huang was deported. Very soon he will say that he is not aware he is the president of this country and I think we should be worried. We should be concerned,” the deputy NDC Chief scribe said.
Meanwhile, Aisha Huang has been denied bail together with her three accomplices. They have been remanded in custody for two weeks.
He would be arraigned before court together with other suspects within the week after they had been charged, police source said.
On Wednesday September 7, 2022, a statement from the police said they had recovered one of the excavators which was reported missing at Ellembelle in the Western Region.
According to the police, the machine was recovered on Tuesday September 6, 2022 through days of intelligence operations.
The statement further said a team of operations and intelligence officers working day and night discovered the missing excavator several kilometres into a forest within the Ellembelle District.
“While the team of police officers were escorting the excavator to Takoradi, at the Axim Junction, the DCE of Ellembelle, Kwasi Bonzo organised and led some thugs to attack the police and obstructed the operation.
“The DCE and three others were therefore arrested accordingly†it said, adding that investigation continues to recover the other excavator and arrest all those behind it to face justice.
Barely 24 hours following the news of Aisha Huang‘s re-arrest following her earlier deportation in December 2018, former Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo has been topping trends on Twitter.
This was after Miss Huang, together with three other Chinese nationals, were brought before the court on charges including engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals without a license and mining without a license.
The court could not take into record the pleas of the four suspects because there was no interpreter to help translate proceedings for the Chinese nationals.
Prior to this development, Aisha Huang was arrested and deported from Ghana in 2018, and was charged with undertaking small-scale mining operations, contrary to Section 99 (1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703).
She was also charged with providing mine support services without valid registration with the Minerals Commission, contrary to Section 59 and 99 (2) of the Minerals and Mining Act; and also charged with illegal employment of foreign nationals (in breach of section 24 of the Immigration Act and regulation 18 of the Immigration Regulations).
Many are on social media questioning what the next possible defense of the former Senior Minister will be considering he gave justification previously as to why Aisha Huang could not be prosecuted.
“So, what all does osafo Marfo want? Every scandal he is involved. I suspect he is the landlord of Aisha Huang.†Barima Osei Tutu quizzed
“I’m sure Osafo Marfo will come up with a great reason why we need to just repatriate her back to China. Just like last time.†El Jefe added
“My interest is in what Mr Osafo Marfo go say this time around, †another user said.
The 50-year-old has been arrested for allegedly defiling two girls aged nine and 10 respectively at Newtown, a suburb of Asankrangwa.
According to reports, the event happened in June of this year, but the suspect was brought before the court last Thursday on a bench warrant that the court had issued the previous week after he failed to appear.
The court presided over by Mr. Augustine Fiifi Donfu, rejected a demanded that the suspect be sent to the Tarkwa Circuit Court, because the lacked the necessary jurisdiction to hear the case.
It was the case of the prosecution, Police Inspector Appiah Bimpong, that Tsekpo who has been with the GIS since 1999 was currently stationed at the District Immigration Office, Asankrangwa in the Amenfi West municipality of the Western Region.
According to him, the suspect resides in the same house with the victims and it had been alleged that on occasions, he organised parties for the victims and other children within the Newtown neighbourhood.
Inspector Bimpong said that in July this year, one of the victims (the 10-year-old) fell sick and was not recovering after several medications. When her mother inspected her private parts, she suspected someone had had sexual intercourse with her.
This prompted the father to further question the daughter, at which time the victim revealed that somewhere in June this year, the accused sent one Christiana to call her and the other victim (the 9-year-old) to collect gifts in his room, and there, Tsekpor had sexual intercourse with them.
Later, the prosecution said the accused warned the two victims not to inform anyone about the affairs or else he will flee Asankragwa if they failed to keep the secret.
Again, the father of the victim (aged 10), Mr. John Kofi Opoku, also conferred with the mother of the victim (aged 9) and upon interrogation, the victim confirmed the matter.
“The parents jointly reported the case to the Asankrangwa police station and medical forms were issued for the victims to be taken to the hospital for examination and endorsement,†Inspector Bimpong stated.
The prosecution has stated that the Attorney General‘s (A-G) office is preparing for committal procedures against the six accused individuals who are now in court for allegedly gang-raping a first-year student at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST.
The process will pave the way for a full trial at a higher court.
In court
On Thursday, August 18, the Asokore Mampong District Court granted a request to remand the suspects into police custody to reappear on September 2.
“We alluded to the fact that there was a bail application at the High Court by Counsel for the accused persons but it was refused. So we brought it to the attention of the trial judge and he went ahead to remand the accused persons,†said the Head of Legal and Prosecution at the Ashanti Regional Police Command ACP Kofi Blagodzi.
The suspects, including the boyfriend of the victim, Patrick Fosu reportedly lured the victim, a level 100 student of the KNUST to commit the crime with the five others on July 24. Police also gave their names as Edwin Nii Noi Quaynor, John Wilson, Kingsley Asiedu Andoh, Thompson Nii, and Assafua Eric all students of the university.
“Very soon the A-G will commence the committal proceedings after which the actual trial will be at the High Court,†Blagodzi said indicating that a bail application at the High Court by counsel for the accused persons was not granted.
Difficult times
The suspects will remain behind bars until September 2. University authorities are yet to determine their although sources say they risk being rusticated.
Lawyer for the accused persons is urging calm but admits parents of the accused persons are worried that their sons are going through such difficult times.
“We went to the High Court and made our argument but the High Court disagreed with us citing the safety of both the victim and the students. If that offense has not been proven they are still innocent.
Their parents are very distraught and are in difficult times but I must tell you that they also empathize with the victim. The parents are also taken steps to assist the victim as they think of their sonsâ€, Counsel for the accused persons Richard Adu Darko told the media shortly after proceedings.
Meanwhile, two other suspects including a police officer are facing court for committing a similar offense.
The officer, General L/Cpl Frank Adu-Poku stationed at Bomso, and a KNUST student were arrested for allegedly gang-raping a first-year student of the school.
Joel Osei Owusu, a Level 400 Business Administration student, is alleged to have lured the victim into his room at Ultimate Hostel, formerly Evandy Hostel, and forcibly had sexual intercourse with her.
They have since been remanded into police custody assisting investigations.
A controversial decision to dissolve Vanuatu‘s parliament looked set to be challenged in court, as opponents accused the country’s embattled prime minister of illegally dodging a Friday vote of no confidence.
Hours before a parliamentary vote that could have brought down Prime Minister Bob Loughman’s government, he engineered parliament to be dissolved, triggering elections two years earlier than expected.
The opposition — backed by 17 members of government — had backed a vote of no confidence in Loughman, who has led the Pacific island nation since 2020.
Opposition figure Ralph Regenvanu said he would be “challenging this dissolution in court”, with an emergency petition expected to come as soon as Monday.
The tussle is likely to spell a period of political tumult in Vanuatu, which has traditionally been more stable than the neighboring Solomon Islands or Papua New Guinea.
“It’s unprecedented,” said Tess Newton Cain, a long-time Vanuatu watcher and project lead for the Pacific hub at Griffith University, but “not a constitutional crisis at this stage”.
Politics in Vanuatu centres around personal ties and regional politics, rather than ideological parties. Membership of coalitions and even political parties can be fluid.
The decision to dissolve parliament was carried out by recently elected president Nikenike Vurobaravu, a party ally of Loughman, prompting questions about political interference.
Loughman insisted the decision was above board.
“The president exercised powers invested in him by the constitution and as a caretaker Prime Minister of a caretaker government, we welcome the decision,” he said.
If the decision is upheld, Vanuatu will face elections within the next 60 days.
Before parliament was dissolved, a general election had not been due to be held on Vanuatu until 2024.
In June, the country announced agreements with Beijing, deepening their economic ties with China, after Loughman met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the capital Port Vila.
Pacific nations have come under intense political scrutiny amid China-US tensions, with Beijing seeking to increase its security and trade presence in the region.
A number of trial cases currently before the Kaneshie Magistrate Court have been adjourned to Friday, April 25, 2022.
The adjourned cases include the trials of Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu; Executive Director of Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mensah Thompson; actor and comedian, Benson Nana Yaw Oduro Boateng, aka Funny Face; as well as broadcast journalist, Bobie Ansah.
According to a Daily Guide report sighted by GhanaWeb, the adjournment of the four cases which are at various stages of trial is due to the absence of the presiding judge, Isaac Oheneba-Kuffour.
According to the report, the judge who is currently attending a professional course was unavailable for sitting when the cases were called on Monday, March 14, 2022.
Francis-Xavier Sosu is standing trial at the court on charges of obstruction of public way, causing damage to other road users and unlawful damage.
The Madina MP who has pleaded not guilty to all the charges is alleged to have led his constituents to conduct a violent demonstration of poor condition state of roads.
The MP has been on self-recognizance bail following his arraignment.
Funny Face has been charged for threatening the life of the mother of his twin daughters and also threatening to commit suicide.
The Kaneshie Magistrate court had earlier committed him to a medical facility to undergo mental treatment but he was later granted a bail in the sum of GH¢20,000 by the court.
A journalist with Accra FM, Bobie Ansah, is also facing two counts of publication of false news and offensive conduct at the magistrate court.
His arrest and arraignment follows comments by the broadcaster to the effect that the First and Second Ladies had granted themselves state lands at AU Village, around the Kotoka International Airport for the construction of a Rebecca Foundation.
Bobie Ansah has been placed on a GH¢50,000 bail by the court.
Mensah Thompson, who is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability, is also facing charges of two counts of publication of false news and offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace, to which he pleaded not guilty.
He was charged for alleging that some family members of the president used the presidential jet for shopping in the United Kingdom in December last year.
Mensah Thompson made the claims on his Facebook page in January, which drew a lot of public outcry. He later retracted the allegation and apologised for it after he was not able to prove his statements.
Sacut Amenga-Etegu, a freelance journalist who was arrested for allegedly recording proceedings in court has been discharged.
This was after he was arraigned before the criminal division 5 of the Accra High Court.
The National Security Minister denied earlier reports the journalist was picked up and detained by its officials.
He was detained following the court order on Thursday February 24,2022.
Background:
The Court presided over by Her Ladyship, Lydia Osei Marfo, before detaining him said that the freelancer “could be a security threat to the Court [Criminal Court 5] and the Court Complex at large, if not the whole country.â€
Per the Court records, Justice Marfo said she heard noise outside her courtroom as she was calling a case for trial.
According to Her Ladyship, what she heard “on the corridors of this Court were not ordinary noise†prompting her to cause her Court Warrant Officer (CWO) to investigate.
Detective Inspector Dometi Wisdom, from the National Security, upon being summoned by the Court, narrated to the Court how Sacut was spotted attempting to take a video of the National Security operatives and the accused persons while they were leaving the Courtroom.
Freelance journalist, Sacut Amenga-Etegu, who was discharged by the Criminal Court Division 5 in Accra on Tuesday has been rearrested again by the Police.
The reasons for his arrest by the Police are not immediately known.
Mr. Amenga-Etegu who was arrested for allegedly recording proceedings in court without authorization was arraigned and subsequently discharged.
However, reports indicate that the Journalist has been rearrested shortly after meeting his friends and family members at the court premises.
Background:
The Court presided over by Her Ladyship, Lydia Osei Marfo, before detaining him said that the freelancer “could be a security threat to the Court [Criminal Court 5] and the Court Complex at large, if not the whole country.â€
Per the Court records, Justice Marfo said she heard noise outside her courtroom as she was calling a case for trial.
According to Her Ladyship, what she heard “on the corridors of this Court were not ordinary noise†prompting her to cause her Court Warrant Officer (CWO) to investigate.
Detective Inspector Dometi Wisdom, from the National Security, upon being summoned by the Court, narrated to the Court how Sacut was spotted attempting to take a video of the National Security operatives and the accused persons while they were leaving the Courtroom.
A total of 5,455 cases were mediated through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the country last year out of which 2,312, representing 42 per cent of the cases, were settled.
The ADR programme was also extended to 131 courts across the country, while 635 mediators were trained with at least five of them being assigned to each court.
Additionally, regional ADR secretariats, including coordinators and supporting staff, had been established in 10 out of the 16 regions.
The Judge-in-Charge of the ADR, Justice Irene Charity Larbi, announced this at the launch of the third quarter ADR Week celebration for the Legal Year term in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region yesterday.
The event, which was on the theme: “Making our court’s user friendly through the use of ADR,” was commemorated to create more awareness of alternative dispute resolution and also sensitise other stakeholders such as judges, court officials and lawyers to the use of ADR.
Also, during the week-long celebration, mediators are assigned to courts to help parties resolve cases alternatively.
The commemoration for the first quarter was marked from April 12 to 16, this year.
Successful implementation
According to Justice Larbi, who is also a Justice of the Court of Appeal, after nearly 16 years of the successful implementation of the court-connected ADR system, it was time for it to become the “go-to option” for people seeking justice in the country.
She said the ADR had also chalked up some “verifiable and demonstrable†successes over the years to the extent that it was “our expectation that in the years to come ADR becomes not just a complement to the justice delivery architecture†but rather an easy option for people seeking justice.
Justice Larbi also said the ADR had helped in reducing the backlog of cases in the courts substantially due to the mass mediation exercise.
“The ADR concept has served as a complement to the traditional court system in making access to justice cheaper, easier, expeditious, non-adversarial and faster for the citizenry,†she added.
Justice Larbi mentioned the advantages of the ADR to include privacy, willingness of parties to comply with agreements they make after the ADR process, promotion of healthier methods of resolving conflicts and helping to decongest the courts to enable judges to have more time for cases not amenable to the ADR.
Furthermore, she said, apart from offering financial and emotional relief to parties, the ADR also cut down cost of litigation, thereby making justice more accessible to a greater number of people.
“This clearly indicates that the ADR mechanism is a reliable partner of the traditional justice delivery system and must, therefore, be embraced and nurtured for a quality justice delivery system,” Justice Larbi added.
Sustaining ADR
The judge-in-charge further stressed the need to sustain the ADR mechanism since it was “critical in our goal of promoting excellence, speed and efficiency in judicial administrationâ€.
She said the judicial service attached much importance to ADR for which reason in 2005, it created space and the necessary environment to serve the litigating public with all the benefits of ADR to ensure quality justice delivery became “real and accessible to all, especially the poor and the vulnerable”.
“We can only achieve the excellence we seek if judicial outcomes are not the product of long, drawn-out processes that lead to pyrrhic victories for the parties in a dispute,” Justice Larbi said.
Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Nasiru Sulemana Gbadegbe broke down in tears while addressing a gathering of Supreme Court judges on his retirement day.
Justice Gbadegbe who has served the Judiciary for 31 years since 1989 on his last day in court read the judgment in the case in which the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional a Chinery Hesse report recommending pension payment for former Parliamentary.
Justice Gbadegbe after delivering his valedictory judgment in the case of David Apasera and 39 others vs Attorney General took turns to introduce two of his sons who are now lawyers.
The emotionally looking Justice Gbadegbe eventually lost his voice in a packed courtroom with the remaining 16 justice of the apex court now before him including Chief Justice Kwasi An in Yeboah.
The Chief Justice, Justice Jones Dotse, the president of the Ghana Bar Association Mr. Anthony Forson Jnr, and Deputy Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame all took turns to pay tributes to his long service to the nation.
He retires at the age of 70 years after 11 years as a Supreme Court judge.
The Greater Accra Command of the Ghana Police Service has arraigned eight out of the 109 persons who were arrested for allegedly attacking a team of police officers.
This comes on the back of an attack by some residents of Ritz Junction on a team of police personnel providing security to a bailiff executing a court order.
After investigations by the police, eight out of the 109 arrested persons were alleged to have been part of those who disrupted the work of the police.
Speaking to Citi News, the Public Relations Officer of the Greater Accra Regional Police, DSP Efia Tenge, said the eight persons were put before court for obstructing the work of the police.
“On the back of some obstructions which took place at Ritz junction on Monday. So on Wednesday, the Regional Command mobilised again and went to the place where 109 persons were arrested for their involvement in obstructing the police in the said operation.â€
“Eight of them were found to have been involved in the said action. So they have been put before court this morning and the rest of them have been released. They were held for assault on a public officer and also obstructing the police officers in the discharge of their lawful duties.â€
Two persons, including a Burkinabe, were yesterday granted GHC1.6 million bail for allegedly conspiring to steal 100kg of gold valued at $5.8 million.
Per the bail condition, each of them is to produce two sureties whose net salary should not be less than GHC 1,000.
Seth Owusu and Bashiru Pafadnam, the Burkinabe, would appear again on October 7.
This was after their counsel, Mr George Asomani argued that his clients had persons of substance to stand as sureties and that they would avail themselves in court.
Abubakar Sadick, an accomplice, is currently at large.
The prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sylvester Asare told the court presided over by Justice Emmanuel Esaandoh, a high court judge sitting with additional responsibility as a circuit court judge that the accused stole the gold belonging to one Raymond Turckson Kobina, a businessman.
He said Sadick who was an employee of Kobina conspired with Owusu and Pafadnam to steal the 100kg of gold, and, subsequently, caused a company called ITALTEC Ghana Limited to ship 5kg valued at $290,000 (GHC 1,595,000) to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
ASP Asare told the court that in July, this year, Kobina took delivery of 100 kg of gold from different miners and was awaiting prospective buyers.
The court heard that on July 26, Sadick, who knew where Kobina kept the gold stole and left home.
He said later on the same day, Kobina could not find the gold where he kept it.
ASP Asare stated that Kobina became suspicious and lodged a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service.
Thereafter, the prosecutor said attempts to reach Sadick via the telephone were unsuccessful as Sadick failed to answer his phone calls.
ASP Asare said Kobina later got information that Pafadnam was spotted at a refinery with quantities of gold suspected to be that of the complainant.
The policeman stated that Pafadnam was arrested and led the police to arrest Owusu.
The prosecutor said it came to light in the course of investigations that the accused gave the 100 kg of gold to ITALTEC out of which 5kg was shipped to Dubai.
A 21-year-old lactating mother and a seamstress apprentice who harmed her stepdaughter at Nyankoman in the Aowin Municipality has been sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Enchi District Magistrate court.
The court, also, ordered Mary Ackaah, alias Assor to pay a fine of GH¢1,200 or in default serve six months in prison.
She was convicted on her own plea of guilty.
Detective Inspector Joseph Kwadwo Agyare, prosecuting the case told the court presided over by Mr Eric Baah Boateng, that Hannah Mensah, the complainant resides at Yiwabra, while Kwame Agyemang, a witness is one of the parents of the victim (name withheld) who is eight years old and a primary two pupil.
He said the victim lived in the same room with her father, siblings and the convict at Nyankoman.
The prosecution said at about 1000 hours on 26th day of May 2020, Mary invited the victim to run some errands for her, while playing with her friends in the neighbourhood, but the victim did not respond to the call.
He said later in the day, the victim went home to have her supper and Mary upon seeing her got upset and decided to lash her with a cane, but in the process, the cane hit the victim’s left eye which became reddish and swollen.
Inspector Agyare said, Mary kept what happened to herself and even warned the victim not to tell the father or else she would subject her to severe beatings.
He said when the victim was questioned by the father about her injury, she lied that it was his younger brother who hit her left eye with a stick, while they were playing and so the father sent her to the Episcopal health centre at Nyankoman for treatment.
The prosecution said on May 27, the complainant paid an unannounced visit to the victim, but seeing her condition, she rushed her to the Presbyterian health centre in Enchi, where a referral note was issued to her to send the victim to the Agogo hospital in the Ashanti Region to seek further medical attention.
He said the complainant thereafter made a report at the Enchi Police station, where a medical report form was issued to her on behalf of the victim for a medical examination, later Mary was apprehended. Inspector Agyare said a medical report from the hospital indicated that the victim was blind on the left eye.
He said the convict confessed to the act in her caution statement and after investigations, she was charged with the offence.
An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced a 30-year-old self-styled musician to a fine of GH¢2,400 for shoplifting assorted items at the Shoprite section of the West Hills Mall in Accra.
In default, the convict, David Ike, will serve three months in prison.
The items stolen included two pieces Cling Cracker biscuit, one cake of Medi Soft soap, two pieces of Lindor chocolate, two sets of floral tissue, underwear, two plastic bottles of water, one packet of Burger peanuts and one bag, all worth GH¢167.65
The convict pleaded not guilty to the charge of stealing and was found guilty by the court after a full trial.
Cross-examination
During cross-examination, although Ike had admitted picking up the items at the mall, he denied walking away with the items, arguing that he made an attempt to see the manager on duty in order to make payments for the items, but to no avail.
He also told the court that he was an Australian who came to Ghana in 2017 and had no permanent place of abode.
Meanwhile, Ike is expected to be put before a different court for the use of narcotic drugs.
Judgment
Passing sentence, the presiding judge, Ms Ruby Naa Ayitey, a High Court judge sitting with additional responsibility as a Circuit Court judge, said the evidence produced by the prosecution against the convict was overwhelming.
She added that she had considered the fact that the stolen items had been retrieved and that their value was minimal.
She also said another factor considered in sentencing Ike was that he was not a Ghanaian and had no place of abode, a fact that was made known to the court during cross-examination.
Ms Ayitey also said she considered the fact that the accused person had no place of abode and had been in custody for the past two years since the trial started.
Facts
The facts, as presented by the prosecutor, Inspector Samuel Ahiabor, were that the complainant in the case was a security guard at West Hills Mall.
Inspector Ahiabor said about 8 p.m. on August 12, 2018, while people were busily shopping at the mall, Ike entered the Shoprite section of the mall, picked a bag and loaded it with the assorted items.
He said Ike concealed the items in a bag without paying for them.
He added that while Ike walked out of the shop with the goods, the security guard called him to produce the receipt for the items in the concealed bag.
“He could not produce any receipt and was, therefore, arrested and the items retrieved from him,†he said.
Inspector Ahiabor added that Ike was later handed over to the police on duty at the West Hills Mall.
Subsequent arrest
The prosecutor said a further search conducted on Ike by the police revealed a wrapped substance suspected to be Indian hemp, adding that Ike was subsequently re-arrested, together with the exhibit, and handed over to the new Weija Police for investigation.
In his caution statement to the police, he said, Ike admitted the offences and was charged, after which the wrapped substance was forwarded to the Police Forensic Laboratory for examination.
