A Circuit Court in Accra has ordered an evaluation into the mental state of Thomas Yeboah, one of the persons arrested during the ‘Democracy Hub’ demonstration against illegal mining.
This follows a concern raised by his lawyer, Nelson Noble Amedewonu, who told the court that the accused is still in custody despite the court granting him bail.
He told the court that nobody is willing to stand as surety for the accused person because of his mental condition, adding that “he is not coherent.”
He suggested that the prosecution should make an arrangement for his assessment or cease prosecution entirely.
A State Attorney, Nana Akosua Kusi, told the court that the prosecution was only made aware of the accused person’s condition yesterday morning, and said they will consider taking an action.
The court, presided over by Kwabena Kodua Obiri-Yeboah, ordered the prosecution to direct the case investigator to cause a mental investigation on Thomas Yeboah.
This, he said, will lead the prosecution to decide whether to continue prosecuting the accused person or not.
Meanwhile, the court has given the prosecution up to October 22, 2024, to file the remaining witness statements of its witnesses.
The order came after Nana Akosua Kusi told the court that they were not able to file the remainder of the witness statements, and asked for a week’s adjournment.
The case was adjourned to October 24, 2024.
Thomas Yeboah is among a group of 13 persons, including Oliver Barker-Vormawor, who are standing trial for various offences.
In all, 54 persons have been charged with offences including unlawful assembly, unlawful damage, offensive conduct conducive to breach of peace, assault on a public officer and defacement of public property, while Barker-Vormawor was separately charged with stealing a key from a police vehicle and throwing it away.
The demonstration, which began on September 21, 2024, became chaotic on September 22 with some of the protesters caught on video defacing billboards and political party paraphernalia, while others were caught in an altercation with police officers sent to the scene to maintain law and order.
They all pleaded not guilty to the charges, and their lawyers took turns to plead with the court to grant the accused persons bail, stressing on the alleged mistreatment they suffered while in police custody, and that the police are under-resourced to adequately cater for the accused persons.
By Gibril Abdul Razak