Barker-Vormawor out of police custody
Mr Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a convenor of the Fix the Country Movement, has finally been released from police custody, nearly 24 hours after a High Court granted him. Mr Mawuli Dake, a close associate posted a photo he took with Barker-Vormawor on his Facebook page Thursday afternoon with the following text: #BREAKINGNEWS…. Fellow Ghanaians, The Osaagyefo Oliver Barker-Vormawor! At last! #PowerToThePeople
A Tema High Court presided over by Justice Daniel Mensah yesterday, granted bail to Barkar-Vormawor, with a sum of GH¢2 million with two sureties, but he couldn’t be released and was held in police custody.
The police said Wednesday evening that they couldn’t fulfill the orders of the court when they took the accused to the court to execute the bail, because the Registrar of the court, Mr Sebastian A. Agbo informed the police, that the document covering the landed property submitted to the court by one of the sureties had been presented to the Greater Accra Regional Lands Commission for verification and the court was still waiting for feedback from the Lands Commission.
The Registrar therefore, told the police he was unable to proceed with the execution of the bail until he received feedback from the Commission.
The police, therefore, took the accused back to police cells while it awaits the High Court Registrar’s directive.
One of the two sureties is to deposit documents of a landed property within the jurisdiction of the court. In addition, Barker-Vormawor’s passport is still to be in the possession of the prosecution, while he is required to report himself to the police once a week on a day to be nominated by the investigators.
Delivering the ruling on the bail application pending trial put before the Court by lawyers of Barker-Vormawor, the presiding judge said having listened to arguments from both prosecution and accused’s counsel, he was entitled to bail as enshrined in Article 14 (1) of the 1992 Constitution, which guaranteed the liberty of all, and as stated by the Supreme Court in the Martin Kpebu case.
Justice Mensah stated that looking at the charge of treason felony leveled against him, and the severity of the punishment, the accused still came to Ghana after his coup post on his Facebook page while he was in the United Kingdom, meaning he would not run away from the trial.
He added that the accused could not be taken as someone who was a flight risk as stated by the prosecution in their opposition, explaining that, with the passport of Barker-Vormawor being in the hands of the police, coupled with the fact that he was a PhD student of Cambridge University, he was not likely to jump bail.
Mr. Barker-Vormawor is facing a charge of treason felony for a Facebook post he made saying he would make a coup if the unpopular E-Levy passes.
He was arrested on February 11, when he arrived in the country from the UK, where he is a law doctoral research student at Cambridge University.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, with additional files from the GNA