Afoko‘s lawyer asks court to admit him to bail

A lawyer defending Gregory Afoko says the state has no interest in prosecuting his client, hence Afoko should be admitted to bail.

Mr Israel Ackah, one of the defence counsels, said Afoko is a citizen of Ghana and the constitution guarantee him freedom of movement as his client is presumed innocent until proven otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction.

He recounted that access to justice required that Afoko should be heard in a court, but this has not been done.

According to counsel, the matter at stake was not against any individual but the State, adding the police had persistently refused its obligation and urged the court not to accept their excuses…“The Attorney General is working on what? Mr Ackah quizzed.

Counsel said the state has “expressed no interest or taken cognisance of what they were putting accused person through. There had been series of promises on the preparation of the bill of indictment.”

Counsel lamented that Afoko had appeared before a Magistrate Court in Accra in the case in which he is alleged to have poured acid on the late Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Adams Mahama.

Mr Ackah said they had gone to a High Court in Accra to quash every proceeding before the Magistrate court as it had no mandate to grant bail to the accused person.

He said the High Court ruled that if the magistrate court had no mandate to grant bail to the accused then it had no business to remand him.

Counsel noted that his client who has been in lawful custody for eight months was ready to provide sureties.

“There are no indications that accused persons would interfere with investigations as the state had put its machinery to work effectively. My client has a Ghanaian passport and he is willing to stay within the court’s jurisdiction to stand trial,” he stated.

When the case was called, Superintendent of Police, Mr Francis Baah submitted that he had contacted the Attorney General’s (AG) Office to ascertain the progress of the bill of indictment.

According to Supt. Baah, the “AG is on it. They have not finished. I therefore pray for more time”.

Prosecution noted that what was going on was in their own interest, adding at the right time “they would be privy to all information”.

Afoko has been charged for murder, his accomplice, Musah Issah, is being held for abetment of crime.

Their pleas have not been taken.

On July 10, the Magistrates Court presided over by Mr Worlanyo Kotoku, admitted Issah to bail in the sum of GH¢20,000.00 with four sureties.

He is to report to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service before noon from Monday to Thursday, until the case is disposed of.

In the case of Afoko, an Accra High Court refused him bail, saying there had not been any unreasonable delay in the matter.

The court presided over by Mr Justice K. A Okwabi noted that the facts and charges were properly laid and they connected Gregory to the crime.

In May, while he was on the way home, Mahama was attacked with acid, and he later died in the hospital.

He reportedly named some of the persons who attacked him.

According to the Police, Afoko after his arrest, was asked to lead the Police to the house of his accomplice, Asabke Alangdi, but “he rather took them to his father’s house.”

The Police said they later located the house of the second person, but the suspect, having gotten wind of their presence, absconded with his wife, leaving behind their baby.

A gallon, which allegedly contained some of the substance and a plastic cup, were retrieved from the scene for forensic examination,” the Police stated.

The Police said: a “post mortem examination was conducted on the body of Adam and the pathologist gave the cause of the death as shocked lungs and extensive acid burns.”

Issah was arrested for allegedly buying the acid used for the attack.

The matter has been adjourned to December 16 for ruling.

Source: GNA