A District Court in Achimota has set aside a controversial bench warrant issued for the arrest of Karen Baaba Sam.
The warrant which was secured by he estranged ex-partner, Nana Kwadwo Adjei, drew public condemnation and attack after it popped up on social media last week and was carried in newspapers.
It claimed to have declared Ms. Baaba Sam wanted to assist the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the police, in a case of unlawful child removal.
Ms. Sam protested her innocence and subsequently filed an application and urged the court to set it aside.
They argued that the arrest warrant had no legal basis and ought to be dismissed. It was not opposed by a David Beecham, a State Attorney and the court presided over by His Worship Osei Price, granted it and set aside the bench warrant.
The warrant of arrest, dated Monday, 20 January 2025, which emerged on social media, declared Karen Baaba Sam wanted by the District Court in Achimota (Achimota District Court) to assist the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
According to the Police, she was believed to be hiding in East Legon, Airport Residential Area, Cantonments, Osu, or Dzorwulu.
The warrant was signed by the Superintendent of Police, Joseph Benefo Darkwah.
However, in an affidavit deposed to by Karen Baaba Sam, she indicated that her attention was drawn to an arrest warrant issued by the Achimota district court for her arrest based on which publications were splashed in several newspapers on January 23, 2025, projecting her as a fugitive from justice.
As her first step, Ms. Baaba Sam said she caused her lawyer to conduct a search at the Achimota District Court to find out the specific case upon which the arrest warrant was issued. The lawyers found nothing.
She averred that the warrant, whether issued by the Court or not, was procured through fraud and illegality.
She also argued that the complainant’s (ex-partner’s) claimed she had custody of their child and that she took away their daughter and was refusing to return her are all false.
“That, I (Baaba Sam) am engaged in two cases involving domestic abuse and custody with the complainant, with one pending in the Circuit Court (Child-Friendly Gender-Based Violence Court), Police Headquarters, Accra, and the other pending before the District Court (Family Division), Accra.”
She further points out that that on December 13, 2024, the District Court made orders for the sharing of the Christmas vacation between her and the ex-partner.
Subsequently, on December 23, 2024, she said the Circuit Court granted her and the daughter interim protection orders against the complainant.
“The Circuit Court ordered the complainant to appear in court on 14 January 2025 to show cause why the protection order should not be finalized. I (Baaba Sam) picked up my daughter on 29 December 2024 and the complainant was served with the order to appear on 31 December 2024.
“On 14 January 2025, I appeared in the Circuit Court with my daughter, but the complainant refused to appear and instead sent his lawyer to tell the Circuit Court judge that he had traveled, and that he had been before the District Court without notice to me (Baaba Sam) to obtain orders behind my back.
“I am keeping my daughter pursuant to an interim protection order issued by the Circuit Court on 23 December 2024.
The alleged complainant challenged the order at the High Court, which resulted in my counter-challenge in the Supreme Court.
Ms. Baaba Sam again indicated that her ex-partner is only using the court and sections of the police to unlawfully advance his personal interests and that the issuance of the warrant and its publication in the Graphic has caused her exceedingly great harm and injury.
“My daughter is in my lawful custody by virtue of the interim protection order granted me by the Circuit Court, which is still undergoing the lawful appeal and review processes in the appropriate higher courts. This Court should not lend its powers to perpetrate illegality against me,” she added.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak