Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo and Benjamin Osei Ampofo Adjei
The first prosecution witness in the trial of the National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, has defended his witness statement which was adopted by the court, saying “I stand by it since I read aspect of it and they are indeed what I told the police.”
The adoption of the statement had generated heated arguments between the defence and the prosecution as Tony Lithur, counsel for Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo, tried to have the statement dismissed because he insisted that it did not represent the testimony of the witness.
The witness, Benjamin Osei Ampofo-Adjei, a broadcast journalist with Accra-based ‘Adom FM’ being led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Yvonne Atakora-Obuobisa, had denied his police investigation statement as well as his witness statement presented by the prosecution.
Mr. Ampofo-Adjei told the court that although he signed the statement as witness, it was the first time he was seeing the document.
Cross-Examination
However, the witness, during cross-examination by Mr. Lithur, defended the witness statement, saying “I stand by it as it represented what I told the police.”
Pressed further as to whether he stands by the statement only to the extent that it captures the interview he had with a communication officer of the party, Anthony Kwaku Boahen, who is also on trial, the witness said “yes”.
Dr. Aziz Bamaba, counsel for Mr. Boahen, suggested to the witness that he cannot stand by the statement or speak to its truthfulness to the extent that it captures anything outside the interview he had with Mr. Boahen and the witness said “yes”.
Again, Dr. Bamba suggested to the witness that he was not the one who recorded the alleged statement made by Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo, neither does he know where it was recorded nor the circumstances under which it was made and the witness said “yes”.
Earlier, the witness told the court that he did not notice any different versions of the alleged tape which was played by various radio stations at the time it was leaked.
Mr. Lithur had asked the witness if he noticed that there were different versions of the tape and he (witness) said “no”. “The only difference I noticed is that it is a long tape so some of the stations played just portions of what we played,” he added.
The witness was discharged by the court after the defence lawyers concluded their cross-examinations.
The case was adjourned to March 18, 2020.
Trial
Messrs Ofosu-Ampofo and Boahen are on trial over the tape which captures how the opposition NDC was allegedly planning to commit crimes in the country and turn round to blame them on the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Among the strategies were the creation of a general state of insecurity in the country through kidnappings, arson, and verbal attacks on public officials like the Chairman of the National Peace Council, Prof. Emmanuel Asante, and Electoral Commission Boss, Jean Mensa.
Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo has been charged with one count of conspiracy to cause harm and two counts of assault against a public officer, while Mr. Boahen is facing one count of conspiracy to cause harm.
By Gibril Abdul Razak