Delta 8 Saga: No evidence to sustain prosecution

 

By Maxwell Ofori

It has now emerged that the Kumasi Circuit Court, presided over by Patricia Amponsah, was forced to acquit and discharge the eight Delta Force members on Wednesday this week, because there was no evidence to sustain their prosecution.

The members of the pro-New Patriotic Party (NPP) vigilante group were accused of invading the same court room to free 13 of their colleagues.

The decision of the court was based on a submission by the State Prosecutor, ACP Okyere Darko, to drop the charges, which action was also based on the advice from the Principal State Attorney, Marie Louise-Simmons.

According to the Prosecutor, Marie Louise-Simmons asked that the charges against the eight be dropped, because the main witnesses could not identify any of the suspects.

In her reply to a letter from the Prosecutor for her legal opinion on the case, Marie Louise-Simmons said the two police officers, who were present during the incident, paid attention to only the safety of the Judge.

“As it stands now, there was not even a single witness who can aid the prosecution to identify any of the suspects. There is also no other piece of evidence that links the suspects to the offence they have been charged with.”

Below is her legal opinion on the evidence provided:

“From the docket, the incident occurred inside the KMA Circuit Court room. The evidence suggests that it was a very busy court that day. However, only two (2) policemen being the (CWO) in the court were made to volunteer witness statements.

“The complainant volunteered a statement, however, his statement does not suggest that he was a witness to the incident.

“The statements of the two (2) policemen clearly indicate that they could not identify any of the persons that forcibly entered the courtroom that day, in disregard of the judge’s orders, and aided the escape.

“Sgt. Asagre stated clearly that he could not identify any of the said criminals. Sgt. Evans Kugbeadzor also stated that his attention was on the safety of the judge, and after ushering the judge into her chambers, he returned and realised that all the 13 accused persons and their supporters had left the court. There is no justification from the diary of action that the police got any confidential information about the identity of the action persons that aided the escape.

“Again, after the arrest of the suspect, there is no indication that an identification parade was conducted for any of the possible witness to have identified any of the suspects.

“All suspects have also denied in their statements that they committed any offence. In fact, none of them admitted that they entered the court room that day, though one of them admitted being outside the court room that day.

“It is basic principle in criminal prosecution that “there can be no better identification of an accused, than the evidence of a witness who swears to have seen the accused committing the offence.”

“As it stands now, there was not even a single witness who can aid the prosecution to identify any of the suspects. There is also no other piece of evidence that links the suspects to the offence they have been charged with.

“Despite the unfortunate and despicable incident that occurred, the manner in which it occurred, the investigations conducted, and the evidence available makes it extremely impossible to successfully prosecute any of the suspects here in.

“I, therefore, advise that the charges of DISTURBANCE OF COURT AND RESISTING ARREST & RESCUE against the suspects must be dropped for lack of evidence to prosecute.”

Meanwhile, a statement from the Information Ministry, hours after the court’s order, distanced the government from the decision of the Principal State Attorney, as she did that on her own accord.

A statement from the Ministry indicated that the Attorney General’s Department was investigating the circumstances under which the Principal State Attorney in Kumasi decided “without recourse to advice from higher authority on a matter of high public interest of this nature,” to drop charges against persons arrested in connection with disturbances in a Kumasi Magistrate’s Court in April this year.

“Preliminary investigations suggest that the decision was taken without recourse even to the Director of Public Prosecution, and may amount to a breach of internal procedures on matters of this nature,” the statement added.

However, ACP Okyere Darko, the Prosecutor at the centre of the release, has hit back at the Information Ministry for claiming that the Attorney General was ignorant of the circumstances leading to their discharge.

Speaking in an interview with Starr FM, he debunked the claim by Mr. Hamid, explaining that he does not believe the A-G was unaware of the decision to drop the case for lack of evidence by her agents in the Ashanti Region.

He argued that the Chief State Attorney takes decisions on behalf of the Attorney General in Accra, and that decision is binding on the Attorney General.
“So, nobody can sit anywhere and take a decision that they are going to conduct any fresh investigations. As far as we are concerned, this is conclusive, and the advice has come. If there is any such thing…the Attorney General should come out and say that she has not authorised it.
“But she authorised it. What I am saying is that by law she has authorised it, because…at the end of the day, the person who advised is her representative, and, therefore, she is bound by that decision.
So, if anybody says it is the contrary, we presumed that it is a regular act. Let them bring it and we will see what will happen,” he added.

The brouhaha surrounding the issue has ignited a blazing fire amongst lawyers, political analysts, politicians and the citizenry.

Sulemana Baimah of Media Foundation for West Africa, posted on his facebook wall minutes after the development, saying, “Oh, so, after all, there is no difference between NPP and NDC. I am exceedingly disappointed. How can people storm a court to free suspects on trial, and a government frees them, just because they are members of the ruling party?

“What is even more shameful is the effort by the government to take Ghanaians for fools by giving us ‘Kwaku Ananse’ stories on why the party thugs have been freed. Let someone tell them we are not fools. This is not only disgusting, but embarrassing. I have been hoping the President is truly committed to rule of law.”
The Head of the Department of Research at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Dr. Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, has said the discharge of the eight is a justification of impunity.
According to him, “a culture of impunity is created when people are not dealt with accordingly because of political backing,” and that “looking at the Delta Force eight case, and how things are going, it is quite disturbing.”

Security Analyst Irbard Ibrahim has also described the decision of the Attorney General’s Department to discontinue with the case as a bad public relations move for the government.

 

 

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  By Maxwell Ofori It has now emerged that the Kumasi Circuit Court, presided over by Patricia Amponsah, was forced to acquit and discharge the eight Delta Force members on Wednesday this week, because there was no evidence to sustain their prosecution. The members of the pro-New Patriotic Party (NPP) vigilante group were accused of […]

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