Mawuse Oliver Barker-Vormawor
One of the organisers of the ‘Democracy Hub’ demonstration against illegal mining (galamsey), Oliver Barker-Vormawor, was yesterday granted a bail of GH¢20,000 with two sureties by a High Court in Accra after three successive failed attempts.
He is among a group of 54 persons arrested during the demonstration between September 21 and 22, when a misunderstanding ensued between the protesters and the police.
The court, presided over by Justice Ayitey Armah-Tetteh, in granting what was a repeat application for bail ordered Barker-Vormawor to report to the police twice every week, as part of the bail condition.
His lawyers had failed on two occasions to secure a bail for him at the Circuit Court, while another attempt at the High Court was also unsuccessful.
Justice Armah-Tetteh, in his ruling on October 7, 2024, had relied on Section 96:(5c) of Act 30 and stated that he was not convinced the accused will not commit another offence if granted bail, considering the fact that he was already standing trial for treason felony when he allegedly committed the current offence for which he was remanded.
The court, however, gave the Circuit Court 72 hours to commence his trial, failure of which will lead the court to reconsider granting him bail.
But the prosecution is yet to file all of its disclosures, including witness statement, hence his lawyer, Dr. Justice Srem Sai filed another application at the High Court which was granted yesterday, three weeks after Barker-Vormawor was remanded into police custody by the Circuit Court.
Trial
Fifty-four (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.
Oliver Barker-Vormawor was caught on video removing the key from a police vehicle and throwing it away during the chaotic moment.
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