Gregory Afoko
An Accra High Court hearing the case involving Gregory Afoko, who has been accused of murdering Adams Mahama, Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has once again adjourned the matter to June 28, 2018.
The adjournment was occasioned by the absence of the accused person’s lawyer Osafo Buabeng in court yesterday.
A private legal practitioner, Stephen Sowah, who held brief for him, told the court that his senior was still recovering from an illness, hence his inability to take part in court proceedings.
He said Mr. Buabeng had been given excuse duty.
“He has asked me to seek an adjournment of the matter to June 28, 2018 by which date he will be available himself,” Mr Sowah said.
The prosecution, led by Mathew Amponsah, a chief state attorney, did not object to adjournment.
He expressed his sympathy to Mr. Buabeng and wished him speedy recovery.
This is the second time the trial has been adjourned due to the lawyer’s illness.
The case was adjourned on June 1, 2018 when the prosecution was about to call its 11thwitness.
Address
Meanwhile, the presiding judge, Justice Lawrence L. Mensah has asked the prosecutor to assemble his witnesses since he would not tolerate any further adjournments.
He also asked the defence counsel to write their addresses to the prosecutor once he completes the examination of the witnesses.
Justice Mensah, who earlier indicated that the case must conclude by the end of June 2018, said he does not want new developments to disrupt the trial.
Prosecution Witnesses
The prosecution has so far presented 10 out of 15 prosecution witnesses who have testified before the court.
A toxicologist at the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Peter Quartey Papafio, was last month discharged by the court after he gave his evidence-in-chief and was cross-examined by the defence counsel.
He told the court in his evidence that the substance, which was poured on the late Adams, was Sulphuric acid with 16.89 molar with 90 to 95 percent purity.
“Sulphuric acid with the above concentration was detected in the liquid substance of exhibit A (gallon containing acid). It is very corrosive and causes severe injury upon contact with the skin. Due to the corrosive nature of sulphuric acid it can cause death upon contact,” the court heard.
He told the court that all the items referred to him by the police as exhibits had traces of the sulphuric acid which was poured on the deceased.
He stated that a track suit, which was damaged by the acid burns and said to belong to Afoko, also had traces of the acid which is the same as the acid in the gallon which was allegedly poured on the late Adams Mahama.
He added that the deterioration of the deceased person’s clothes and shoes are also linked to the corrosive nature of the concentrated Sulphuric acid.
The cross-examination by defence counsel Osafo Buabeng focused on the said acid-burnt track suit which is said to belong to Afoko.
He said the Sulphuric acid could not burn the track suit because it was a rain coat and the acid could only stain the coat because of the texture.
But the witness responded by saying that the track suit was made up of a nylon polyester, hence the burn.
The lawyer argued that Afoko was a motor rider and the burn of the lower part of the track suit was caused by the hot exhaust pipe of his motor cycle.
The witness, who refuted this, said, “It is highly improbable to cause those burns but as to whether they are burns from the motor cycle I would not know.”
Another witness Detective Sergeant Benjamin Kusi told the court that the accused person misled crime officers in their attempt to arrest one Asabke Alangdi, a suspect in the case who is on the run.
By Gibril Abdul Razak