Crime & Punishment of Tuesday, 15 July 2014

Source: GNA

Two persons discharged after 59 adjournments

An Accra Circuit Court has struck out a case involving Agbeli Atsakpo, unemployed, for want of prosecution.

The court presided over by Mr Francis Obiri said he had decided to discharge the accused person because the case had gone through 35 adjournments, after the accused first appeared in court on March 20, 2013.

Agbeli was charged in court for possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority and had pleaded not guilty.

The judge said “l don’t think the state is interested in prosecuting the accused person.”

The State Attorney, Seth Awere-Opanyinyena, told the court that on August 22, 2011, the highway police patrol team was on snap check between Asutuare junction road and Kpong, when they intercepted a Mercedes Benz bus with registration number GR 6966 Y with the accused person on board the vehicle.

He said the patrol team conducted a search on the accused and found 126 wrappers of substance suspected to be cocaine in his luggage.

The prosecution said the accused person disowned the exhibits but on interrogation, he claimed that one Jean of Accra New Town gave him the suspected drug to be delivered to an unknown person at Akatsi.

Mr Awere-Opanyinyena said, however, accused person could not lead police to arrest the said Jean and on September 14, 2011, the exhibit was forwarded to the police forensic science laboratory for analytical examination.

He said the report indicated that the exhibit tested positive for cannabis with a net weight of 13.2800 grams.

In another case involving Esther Adokor, unemployed and Agbeli, the court again discharged the two accused persons on the basis that the case had suffered 24 adjournments.

The judge said the plea of the accused persons were taken on August 19, 2013.

He said the accused persons were also discharged because of want of prosecution. Interestingly, while Agbeli was in cells on Friday August 17, the same year, Esther came to the Cocoa Affairs Circuit Court with a black polythene bag to be delivered to Agbeli.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Cletus Abadamlora, told the court that the accused person was called from the cells to see Esther and he gave fifty pesewas to her to buy him sachet water.

He said Esther after returning with the water attempted to smuggle the polythene bag into the cells with its contents without the knowledge of the police officers in-charge.

However, luck eluded them, when the officers spotted her and demanded to inspect the content of the bag.

“The check led to the retrieval of seven balls of dried leaves suspected to be cannabis sativa concealed in balls of Banku,“ he added.

Upon interrogation, she mentioned the accused as the owner. Both were arrested and handed over to the narcotic unit for further investigation.

Esther was charged for supplying narcotic, while Agbeli was charged for possession narcotic.