Asabke Alangdi has told an Accra High Court that prosecution star witness Zewura Issaka’s testimony that he, together with Gregory Afoko’s names were mentioned by the late Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Adam Mahama, on his death bed is palpable falsehood.
He said if the witness’s evidence is anything to go by, those who she claimed were present, including the health officers attending to the deceased at the Bolga Government Hospital, should have given statements to the police stating same.
Madam Zsuwera, fifth prosecution witness (PW5), insisted the deceased said so to the hearing of all, but can’t determine whether the health personnel attending to him at that material time in the Emergency Ward also heard him.
Meanwhile, she said herself, one Mariama, Razak, the deceased’s wife and Nuhu, while standing at the entrance of the Emergency Ward, which door was ajar, saw the late Mahama being treated.
This, Lawyer Andrews Vortia, defence counsel for Asabke, suggested to her during cross examination last Thursday that the deceased did not mention the accused persons’ names – Gregory Afoko and Asabke Alangd – in the midst of treatment to anyone or to the hearing of others.
The lawyer then asked her what position was the deceased lying on the bed, and she answered prostrate.
Mr Vortia followed up with the following questions:
Q. Was the deceased in severe pain when you arrived at the hospital?
A. He was in pains, my lord.
Q. When was the very first time you heard the deceased the mentioning names of those who poured acid on him?
A. At the time we got to the hospital.
The defence counsel earlier asked whether the deceased mentioned these names at the scene or while they were sending to him hospital, and she replied in the negative. She said the deceased was wailing and howling in his agony that he will die.
Madam Zuwera also added that while in the vehicle that was conveying him by one Asigiri Quinn (PW2) the deceased started to say Muslim prayers and she joined him, but never at that period did he for once mentioned any name, as earlier suggested to the court. In her evidence in chief last Wednesday, she told the court that on their arrival at the hospital, they were assisted by two gentlemen, but when asked whether she knew them, the answer was no.
The lawyer then asked:
Q. Is this evidence in your statement you gave to the police initially?
A. Yes, my lord.
Q. I’m putting it to you that is factually incorrect about the two gentlemen being present when the names of the accused persons were being mentioned?
A. I told them [police] but they didn’t write it.
Since Madam Zuwera claimed she had a folder prepared for the deceased, she was questioned that when she returned from the Records Department, were drip was being poured on the deceased by doctors and nurses.
A. Yes my lord, they were pouring the drips on him.
Q. How many doctors and nurses were there at that moment?
A. There were a lot of nurses there; I could not know their number.
Q. So there was no particular moment that there was a visitor at the Emergency Ward apart from the nurses and doctors, is that correct?
A. That is so.
Q. So how did the deceased managed to whisper to only you mentioning the names of Gregory Afoko and Asabke Alangdi in the midst of treatment of an emergency?
A. After they had poured the water on him and had left briefly, that was when he called while standing outside.
Q. Is the Emergency Ward having a door attached to it?
A. Yes, my lord.
Q. So in the treatment of the deceased was the door open or left open?
A. The door was opened, but then I was standing outside.
Q. Was the deceased sleeping prostrate or sitting on the bed when being treated?
A. He was lying down.
Q. Tell the court the gesture the deceased made to call your name?
A. He mentioned my name and beckoned me to come.
Q. Now, I’m putting it to you that the distance between the deceased and where you were standing outside, the deceased cannot beckoned you with the hand to come?
A. Where I was standing and where he was, he can beckon me to come.
The lawyer asked her whether she knew one Thomas Addo Zutah was said to have been at the crime scene with Madam Zuwera on that fateful day of May 20, 2015, since they, together with the deceased, were residents of the Bolga SSNIT flat.
Although in her answer she said she knows Thomas, added that he was not at the hospital and could not state the he was the first person to get to the scene.
Q. You met Quinn at the scene of the incident, is that correct?
A. Yes my lord.
Q. I’m putting it to you that Quinn told this honourable court that when Thomas saw the condition of the deceased he took to his heels to his house?
A. When I got to the scene I did not see Thomas.
Q. When Tofic and Hajia Zinabu (the deceased’s wife) arrived at the hospital to join you and Quinn, were you allowed to enter the Emergency Ward?
A. Tofic and Hajia Zinabu did not arrive at the hospital together. It was Razak and his sister, Marima, who came to the hospital with Hajia.
Q. So Tofic arrived after Hajia Zinabu, is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. So at a point all these personalities, Tofic, Hajiah, Razark , Mariama, Quinn and your good self were present at the Emergency Ward, is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. So all of you were ushered into the Emergency Ward while the doctors and nurses were attending to the deceased?
A. The Emergency Ward door was open so we could see everything from where we were standing at the door. So we could see what was happening.
Q. When you say we, who and who are you referring to standing at the door?
A. Mariana, the deceased’s wife, myself, Tofic and Razak.
Q. Did you see Tofic or heard Tofic speaking to the deceased from where he was standing at the door?
A. Yes, I saw him.
Q. How close was the door of the Emergency Ward to where the deceased was lying?
A. We were very close. Like where I’m sitting to where the juries are.
Q. Would you be surprised that a witness, Tofic, described the distance between the Emergency Ward door to where the deceased was lying as from where the judge is to where the Senior State Attorney is sitting or the lawyers’ table?
A. Perhaps he couldn’t describe it well to the court.
Q. You just told the court that you heard the deceased speaking to Tofi, tell the court what you heard between the two?
A. I didn’t tell the court I heard what they spoke about. The deceased called him but I didn’t hear what they discussed. Just as he also called and spoke to me and nobody heard what he told me.
Q. In what language did the deceased speak to Tofic?
A. I can’t tell.
Q. You will agree with me that the deceased never mentioned the names of those who poured acid to the group at the entrance of the Emergency Ward?
A. He mentioned their names in the Hausa language.
Q. Madam Zurera, I’m putting it to you that you’re being untruthful to the court for the 3rd time?
A. I’m being truthful.
Q. You just told the court you did not hear the language in which the deceased spoke?
A. He did not speak to Tofic in our presence.
Q. So were the doctors and nurses on duty also privy and witnesses of the pronouncement of the deceased about those who poured the acid on him?
A. Whether the doctors and nurses on duty heard what the deceased said I cannot tell, but they were present.
Q. So according to you, what you just gave to the court is a statement of your own imagination.
A. That is not true, the evidence I have given is not a statement of my own imagination.
Q. Whether the doctors on duty heard or did not hear what the deceased said also applies to you – that you did not hear anything.
A. Those of us present at the Emergency Ward heard what the deceased said; myself, Hajia and others heard it.
Q. I’m further putting it to you Mariana, Razark and Nuhu did not hear the deceased mentioning Gregory Afoko and Asabke Alangdi as those who poured acid on him?
A. They heard it very well.
The court, presided over by Justice Mrs Merlyn Wood, adjourned next hearing to Tuesday, March 30, 2021.
The post Afoko trial: Witness is being untruthful my lord -Asabke Alangdi appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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