Court refuses bail for cocaine suspect

A Sunyani Circuit Court yesterday refused to grant a bail application in a case in which a 23-year old suspect, Sabina Mustapha, has been arraigned for allegedly planning to deliver a concealed substance, suspected to be cocaine, to an inmate of the Sunyani Central Prison.

The case was heard at a Magistrate Court early this month during which the suspect was remanded into police custody but had to be transferred to the circuit court yesterday because the magistrate court does not have jurisdiction over the matter.

Pleas by the counsel of the suspect, Mr Kwasi Kankam Boadu, in addition to the suspect’s tears as she stood in the box, could not move the court to grant the bail application.

Facts

Presenting the facts of the case, Police Inspector Martin Abeah told the court that Mustapha, a trader, who is a resident of Amangoase, a suburb of Berekum, visited Toffik Mohammed, an inmate at the Sunyani Central Prison who is serving a 10-year jail sentence, on January 10, 2017.

He explained that after the suspect had interacted with the convict, officials of the prisons had a tip-off that she had concealed substances suspected to be cocaine and was planning to deliver them to Toffik Mohammed.

Inspector Abeah told the court that a search on the suspect after she had been arrested by officials of the prison revealed 98 folded substances, suspected to be cocaine, which compelled the officials to hand over Mustapha, together with the substances, to the police.

Plea of prosecution

Inspector Abeah pleaded with the court to remand the suspect into prison custody to allow the police to continue with its investigations into the matter.

He stated that the substance would be sent to Accra for testing and pleaded that the release of the suspect would interfere with police investigations.

Counsel’s plea

However, the Counsel for the suspect, Mr Kwasi Kankam Boadu, pleaded with the court to grant his client a bail since “the offence is a bailable offence.”

He argued that his client was a woman of substance who had people who were prepared to stand surety and that she would not run away should she be granted bail.

“The suspect has no capacity to interfere with further investigations on the substance which will be conducted in Accra,” he stated.

In addition, Mr Boadu pleaded with the court to grant his bail application to enable Sabina Mustapha, a nursing mother, to breastfeed her two-year-old baby.

Notwithstanding these arguments, the court, presided over by Miss Joan Eyi King, refused to grant the bail application on the grounds that even though the offence was a bailable one, the release of the suspect would interfere with police investigations.

The case has been adjourned to Monday, February 6, 2017.