Vincent Aikins
An Accra circuit court yesterday dismissed the application for bail by lawyers of the four persons standing trial for allegedly robbing Akua Donkor, founder and flag bearer of the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP) in the last elections.
The court, presided over by Aboagye Tandoh, held that the request for bail by the various lawyers of the accused persons – Yakubu Yusif, trader/Central Regional Chairman of the GFP; Abdul Razak Shaibu, a member of the GPRTU task force; Banabas Kayase, driver/secretary of the party and Opoku Agyemang, trader – was premature.
Ruling
He said per Section 965 (6) of Act 30, the grant of bail is solely the discretion of the court in all cases like the instant one.
Mr. Tandoh stated that in granting bail, it was imperative for the court to do so in the contexts of the facts before it, the charge sheet and whether the accused persons would avail themselves for the trial.
In the view of the court, having assessed the application of the lawyers and the law, the court was unable to grant the bail but rather, opted for the speedy trial of the matter in order to avoid undue delays to the disadvantage of the accused persons.
Negligence
Earlier, Sergeant Yesulorn Atsutse, an officer attached to the Odorkor Motorbike Patrol Team – the third prosecution witness in the case – was under cross-examination by Vincent Aikins, lawyer of two of the accused persons.
The lawyer had accused the witness of doing nothing to avert the robbery when he allegedly saw three of the accused persons on a motorbike heading to the scene of the crime on the day of the incident.
Mr Vincent Aikins was emphatic that the police officer was “negligent” and shirked his duty to avert the committal of the crime.
According to him, the police officer, upon seeing that the accused persons on the motorbike were violating motor traffic regulations, should have stopped them.
This, he insisted, could have averted the crime, adding, “If any robbery was committed, you contributed to it.”
Sergeant Atsutse, whose answers to the lawyer’s jabs threw the court into a state of intermittent laughter, said he could not be blamed for the crime because he attempted to stop the accused persons on the motorbike, but they refused to stop.
He stated that he had followed the three for barley ten minutes prior to his attempt to stop them.
Sergeant Atsutse, among other things, told the court that he also saw the vehicle of Madam Akua Donkor parked at the scene of the crime.
The case has been adjourned until May 8.
Charges
The prosecution said at about 2:30 am, the accused persons conspired to rob the GFP leader at gunpoint and snatched her travelling bag containing plane ticket, Ghanaian passport, voter ID card, $30,000 and GH¢3,000 at Sowutuom, a suburb of Accra, on December 30, 2016. Two other accomplices – Joe and Nuamah aka Lion- are currently on the run.
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
jeffdegraft44@yahoo.com