The suspects
The three suspects who were arrested by the Odorkor Police for allegedly possessing grenades have been left grinding their teeth as an Accra District Court refused to grant them bail.
Ismaila Ali Musah, 31; Abdul Karim Yakubu, 30 and Osman Alhassan, 33 were arrested after the police picked intelligence that the three suspects were possessing military grenades.
Their lawyers at the last court proceeding applied for bail giving various reasons why the three should be granted bail although the state was clearly against the idea.
At the court’s sitting yesterday, the court presided over by Magistrate Ebenezer Kwaku Ansah refused to grant the bail stating that the three were facing first degree felonies.
According to the court, given the fact that explosives are not items that are readily available on the market, he is inclined to deny the application for bail.
The judge also held that taking into consideration the charges leveled against the three, he was convinced that they would abscond when granted bail.
He therefore ordered that the three be remanded in custody until the next adjourned date – March 15, 2018.
The three suspects were remanded into custody by the court on January 16, 2018 to allow the police concluded their investigations into the matter.
At the last sitting, George Asamane, counsel for Osman Alhassan, in his application told the court that the police had indicated that investigations into the matter had been concluded but there is no certainty as to when the AG’s advice will be made available.
He added that now that the investigations were over, there is no way the accused persons will interfere with the police, which was one of their basis for opposing the grant of bail.
Felix Aboagye, counsel for Ismaila Ali Musah and Abdul Karim Yakubu associated himself with the submission of his colleague defence lawyer and prayed the court to grant his clients bail.
He assured the court that the suspects will avail themselves at all times for the trial.
Detective Chief Inspector Apiorsornu, however, once again opposed the bail application by the two defence lawyers.
He urged the court to consider the severity of the punishment which conviction of the case could carry among other things.
When the case was called yesterday, a Senior State Attorney, Sefakor Batse told the court that the Attorney General’s office had received the case docket on the three and they need to study the docket in order to give further advice on it.
She prayed the court to allow her raise legal issues on some of the points that arose at the last sitting concerning the jurisdiction of the court saying the court does not have the jurisdiction to grant bail.
The defence lawyers, however, described the scenario as strange saying it was unfamiliar with any of the provisions of the court procedure, especially so when the court was about to rule on the application for bail.
The presiding judge held that it was too late for the Senior State Attorney to make such submissions.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak