The Ashanti Regional Police Command says it has commenced an operation to reopen investigations, and possibly re-arrest members of the pro New Patriotic Party (NPP) vigilante group, Delta Force, who freed thirteen of their colleagues who were standing trial in open court.
The eight suspects, who were standing trial for the offense, were set free for lack of evidence against them.
Government has since been heavily criticized for letting the offenders off the hook for such an action that threatens the sanctity of the judiciary.
Speaking to Citi News, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Ken Yeboah, said his outfit will find the real offenders, and get the necessary evidence to back their prosecution.
“We are now going to re-investigate to find out whether we will be able to get the right people and the right information to be able to pin them to the case,” he said.DCOP Yeboah also dispelled rumors that the state was not interested in the case, saying “motivation happens in every case, you have to get the right information and the right evidence to be able to prosecute somebody but if you don’t have it, you cannot prosecute because in a criminal case, prosecution would have to prove beyond reasonable doubt, and if you are unable to do it, the person will be acquitted and discharged.”
He said in the case in question, “we [Police] have to go back and do it again because they said we didn’t have enough evidence.”
“If we didn’t have enough evidence we have to go back and re-investigate to establish who did what. We were not able to link the people to the evidence that we have, and so we have to go back and do it. If we are lucky, we will be able to get enough evidence to link them to the case,” he added.
Background
The eight Delta Force members were standing trial for storming a Kumasi Court and in the process setting free thirteen of their colleagues, who were charged for assaulting the Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator.
After that incident, the 13 who escaped later reported themselves to the police, and were put in custody again. When their case was called, they were remanded, fined and made to sign a bond of good behaviour for escaping lawful custody.
Following this, it was expected that the eight persons who were arrested by the police for raiding the court, would have been prosecuted and severely punished. But in a shocking turn of events, the eight have been freed with state attorneys claiming lack of evidence against them.
The Principal State Attorney in the case, Marie Louise-Simmons, who was the representative of the Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo, said the charges against the suspects must be dropped because there was insufficient evidence against them.
The court, presided over by Her Honour, Patricia Amponsah, subsequently discharged the accused persons and dismissed the case, much to the frustration and anger of many Ghanaians.
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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey & Lauretta Timah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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