Gregory Afoko
Gregory Afoko, the prime suspect in the murder of the Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Adams Mahama, has finally been granted bail by an Accra High Court since his arrest in May 2015.
This follows a successful application by his lawyer, Osafo Buabeng, for a bail pending the committal and possible trial of the accused person.
The presiding judge, Justice George Buadi, after listening to the arguments, granted Afoko bail in the sum of GH¢500,000 with two sureties, one to be justified.
The court further ordered the accused person to report himself once every two weeks to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at the Police Headquarters in Accra.
Arrest and Trial
Gregory Afoko was arrested in May 2015 for allegedly pouring acid on the Upper East Regional Chairman of the NPP, Adams Mahama, leading to his untimely death.
He is alleged to have conspired with Asabke Alangdi, who was recently arrested from his hideout in the Ivory Coast, to commit the heinous crime.
He has been in custody since his arrest, and efforts by his lawyer to get him bail proved futile on many occasions until yesterday.
Afoko was arraigned before an Accra High Court on the charge of murder after an Accra Central Magistrate Court committed him for trial.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder leveled against him.
The state had closed its case after calling 14 prosecution witnesses, including the wife of the late Adams Mahama, against the accused.
Afoko, subsequently, opened his defence and vehemently denied the charges preferred against him.
He called his elder brother, John Afoko, as his only witness in the matter in a jury trial.
The trial judge, Justice Lawrence L. Mensah, was on course to deliver his verdict when the Attorney General’s Department entered Nolle Prosequi in the matter on January 28.
It later turned out that the AG had taken the legal step because another suspect in the murder of Adams Mahama called Asabke Alangdi had been arrested in neighbouring Ivory Coast after four years on the run.
Afoko’s lawyers have since filed a motion at the Supreme Court to challenge the decision of the AG to enter the Nolle Prosequi and get the case retried.
The motion seeks to pray the apex court to order the Attorney General to go back to the high court to continue the trial.
By Gibril Abdul Razak