Stakeholders contribute delays in courts

Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) - Mr Francis Kusi-Appiah, Supervising High Court Judge in Sunyani, on Monday observed that all the stakeholders in the criminal justice system contributed to delays in the courts.

He said judges; lawyers; court officials; jurors, accused persons; witnesses and legal system itself contributed in one way or the other to the delays. The Supervising High Court Judge was speaking at the opening of the Brong Ahafo Regional Criminal Session (Assizes) in Sunyani.

He said delay was "a sad denial of justice" as it was imperative that every accused person should know his or her fate timeously and equated the mental torture that it engendered to "slow hanging, especially if the person were found to be innocent of the charge against him or her".

Justice Kusi-Appiah said the attitude of some judges contributed in no small way to the delays in the courts, citing unprepared judges, over indulgence with litigants and lawyers, judgement writing and inefficient case management.

He, therefore, urged his colleagues to have an attitudinal and behavioural change needed to ensure expeditious justice. Justice Kusi-Appiah asked state attorneys to act expeditiously and to brief Police investigators of the time of trial so that witnesses could be brought at the appropriate time as well as help to refresh the memories of witnesses before the trial.

He deplored "needless adjournments" by private legal practitioners, poorly prepared lawyers and tactics designed to lengthen trials as well as repetitive questions by some of them, which he said all accounted for delays in court.

The Supervising High Court Judge did not leave out accused persons, whom he said should assist their lawyers, through relatives, to produce witnesses for the proper conduct of the case so that justice could be done to all parties in the case.

He said the legal system was also a contributory factor in the delays in court, saying: "Some of our rules are outmoded or too archaic and thus not relevant to our present day situation".

Justice Kusi-Appiah expressed regrets that out of the 39 cases on murder, robbery, rape and canal knowledge listed to be tried in this year's Assizes most of the accused had been in custody ranging from three to five years.

Three accused persons out of the 30 murder cases listed have been in custody for nine years, five in custody between four to six years, 19 have been in custody for three years, one person for a year whilst two accused persons have been granted bail.

Two persons out of six charged with rape have been in custody for eight years, two for seven years and the other two have been granted bail, he said. The Supervising High Court judge said one person charged with canal knowledge had been in custody for seven years and one person charged in the two robbery cases to be tried had been in custody for two years and the other for a year.

Kusi-Appiah expressed regret that a person on remand and yet to be tried was made to suffer the same predicament, hardship, inconvenience as persons properly tried, convicted and sentenced by a court of jurisdiction.

Such accused persons were under the same confinement, conditions, rules and regulations and ate the same food at the prison house as persons convicted and sentenced.

He, therefore, appealed to all stakeholders involved in the administration of justice to play their roles effectively and efficiently to ensure the expeditious trial of cases and expressed the hope that the introduction of automation or fast track court system by the government would be expedited in the trial of cases to avoid unnecessary delays.

Yaw Adjei Duffuor, Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, called for speedy trials since apart from the congestion created at the prisons, those on remand had been a major drain on the meagre resources of the prisons.

He said the general public perceived the justice system as being too slow due to frequent adjournments requested by lawyers. He observed that informants in some cases even turned into accused persons and cited an alleged armed robbery case, on the Kintampo-Tamale Highway last year in which the informant had rather been accused of stealing 86 cattle of the suspected armed robber.

Whilst the armed robbery case had not been taken to court, the stealing case was being prosecuted in court, he said and called for serious attention to be given to the robbery case to encourage informants to assist the Police in their operations.

Adjei-Duffuor suggested that people inconvenienced in such a manner should be compensated with a percentage of court fines. Nana Obiri Boahen, President of the Brong Ahafo Regional Bar Association, appealed to the media to be cautious; circumspect; accurate; concise and direct with their reportage of court proceedings.

He advised that attempts to sensationalise issues with catchy and captivating headlines, which did not reflect on the real situations must be avoided and called on media practitioners to feel free to contact lawyers handling cases before the courts for clarifications.

The Regional President entreated members of the jury to discharge their duties without fear or favour and to avoid tribal considerations, religious affiliation, social relations and cultural affinity.