An Accra High Court yesterday admitted into evidence some weapons that were found at the Citadel Hospital at Alajo in Accra, a hospital owned and operated by Dr. Frederick MacPalm, one of the ten persons standing trial for allegedly planning to overthrow the government.
The weapons were part of the materials that were retrieved by a joint task force that raided the medical facility following a nine-month surveillance on the operations of the accused persons who had planned to topple the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
The team also retrieved some manufacturing equipment which were used in the manufacturing of the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), guns and ammunition.
The prosecution’s tenth witness, Deputy Staff Officer (DSO), Frank Aboagye led in his evidence-in-chief by the prosecution led by Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, tendered the weapons and the manufacturing equipment without any objections from lawyers for the accused persons.
The weapons tendered included five (5) locally manufactured pistols, 22 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), some tubes, a revolver gun, two AK 47 magazines, and three (3) locally manufactured gun barrels.
The equipment included three (3) pairs of pliers, three (3) hammers, one saw, one spanner, four (4) drilling machines, an electric grinding machine, an anvil, a blue engineering device and 28 other assorted tools.
Bedroom Weapons
DSO Aboagye told the court that they also extended their search to the bedroom of Dr. MacPalm where they discovered three hand smoke grenades in his wardrobe.
“The team also found a small brown leather bag which also had nine live rounds of ammunition. The team again found in the bedroom a Beretta pistol with two magazines. One of the magazines was empty while the other had six live rounds of ammunition. These items were retained for investigative purposes,” the witness told the court.
The weapons were also admitted in evidence without any objections from the defence counsels.
Interrogations
DSO Aboagye also told the court while the searches were ongoing at the Citadel Hospital, the security team decided to interview Dr. MacPalm regarding how the guns and the IEDs came to his premises.
“Dr. MacPalm told the team that the guns were for him and that one Kafui Donya alias Ezor manufactured them for him. He, however, indicated that he was not aware of the presence of the IEDs on his compound,” the witness disclosed.
He said upon further questioning, Dr. MacPalm changed his response and claimed ownership of the guns, but said the IEDs were for Kafui Donya, and that Kafui had manufactured them to be used in the likely event of Nkonya-Alavanyo conflict. He noted that Kafui Donya is a native of Alavanyo. Based on this, a call was placed to Kafui Donya on loud speaker and was asked to come to the hospital,” DSO Aboagye told the court.
He continued that Kafui Donya upon his arrival was arrested and the team decided to interview him separately.
“He was asked if he knew about the guns and the improvised explosive devices and he answered in the positive. According to him, he came from Alavanyo to manufacture the guns and the IEDs for Dr. MacPalm. Upon further questioning, he reiterated that the guns and the IEDs were all manufactured for Dr. MacPalm and that he did the manufacturing,” the witness added.
Hearing continues today.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak