Murder suspects in Mobila's case fail to appear in court

Tamale, March 24, GNA- The Tamale High Court has issued a court order for the suspects in the murder of the late Issah Mobila to appear in court either on April 28, 29 or 30 for proceedings in the case to continue.

The court order was necessitated by the failure of the three suspects, Corporal Appiah Yaw, Private Modzaka Eric and Private Goka Seth to appear in court on Tuesday even though they had been duly notified by the court.

The late Mobila who was the Northern Regional Chairman of the Conventions People's Party was allegedly murdered on December 9, 2004 while in military custody.

He had earlier been invited by the police to clear himself of suspicion of possessing arms. He was subsequently detained by the police and later transferred to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and finally ended up in military custody where he died.

Mr Justice Lawrence L Mensah, the Supervising High Court Judge who presided over the case, also ordered that the suspects should be transferred from military custody to prison custody in Tamale to facilitate the hearing of the case.

Mrs Justice Gertrude G. Aikins, Acting Director of Public Prosecutions who travelled from Accra to hear the case, expressed her surprise and disappointment at the inability of the suspects to be present in court, saying,: "this is a serious case, which must not be trivialized...the system must work". 24 March 09