Attorney General’s Department files appeal against ruling
The Eastern Region Office of the Attorney General’s Department has appealed against a ruling by an Akropong-Akwapim Circuit Court in the Akwapim North District in connection with a road accident.
Mr Ebo Barton Odro, Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, in an interview with Ghana News Agency in Accra on Tuesday said “an appeal has been filed upon receipt of the records since September 8, this year and we are assiduously working on the matter.
“As soon as the petition came to my notice, I gave instructions to our Koforidua office to file notice of appeal because there were lots of merits in the case.
“There is a distinction between careless and inconsiderate driving; in one there is a fine and in the other there is a custodian sentence and therefore I saw clearly that the judge was wrong”.
Mr Odro was reacting to a petition by Mr Kwaku Aboagye, Family Spokesman of a 25-year-old man, Daniel Oboubi Gyene, who was knocked off his bicycle and died on the spot.
The case was The Republic versus Richard Budu.
The deceased who worked with the Bible Society of Ghana went to distribute Bibles and on his way from Amanokrom to Aburi the accident occurred.
The petition said Budu, the driver of the benz 207 commercial vehicle, went into hiding but was later arrested by the police and charged with careless and inconsiderate driving, failing to attend to an injured person and negligently causing harm.
The accused pleaded guilty to all the charges.
It said on February 4, this year, the accused appeared before the Mampong-Akwapim District Magistrate’s Court, he was granted bail and the docket sent to the A-G‘s office in Koforidua for advice.
The A-G’s office, after studying the facts of the case, advised that the accused be charged with dangerous driving and not careless and inconsiderate driving.
In addition, the case should be transferred to Akropong-Akwapim Circuit Court for trial.
The petition said, “It was surprising that the accused was fined GH¢1,800 which was at variance with section 1(1) (c) of the Road Traffic Act 2004 as amended”.
“According to the Act, where death has occurred as a result of dangerous driving, the minimum sentence to be imposed is three years imprisonment which cannot be substituted for any amount of money.”
The petition also called on the Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Wood to investigate and review cases presided over by the Akropong-Akwapim Circuit Court Judge, as the family believed several other cases might have been wrongly decided by the Judge in question.
Source: GNA