Death Threat Against Judges

OVER TSATSU JUDGEMENT

“You Stupid Kangaroo Woman. Because Of Post And Money, U Sent Tsatsu To Prison”

The Special Intelligence Desk (SID) of The Crusading GUIDE has intercepted some threatening and insulting text messages sent to some judges in the country by some anonymous persons who appear to be angry with the outcome of the trial of Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

“YOU STUPID KANGAROO WOMAN. BECAUSE OF POST AND MONEY, U SENT TSATSU TO PRISON”, one of the threatening text messages directed at Justice Helena Inkumsah-Abban, charged.

Obviously this text message had been sent to the ‘wrong destination’ because Mrs. Helena Inkumsah-Abban was(is) not the judge who presided over the trial of Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata. The trial judge in the Tsatsu Tsikata trial was(is) Mrs. Henrietta Abban. The former, Helena Inkumsah-Abban happens to be the daughter of the late A.E. Inkumsah, founding member of Nkrumah’s CPP and a Senior Minister of State in the First Republic.

Yet another text message read: “BY THE WAY DO U WANT TO DIE AND LEAVE THE MONEY FOR UR….SON. I KNOW UR HOUSE AT AJINGANO”.

Even though our Intelligence sources within the Judiciary indicate that Mrs. Henrietta Abban has not received any threatening text messages as at last nite, her husband, in the wake of her ruling, has been subjected to some ‘mobile surveillance’ by some strange figures.

“A report has been made to the Security Services on these strange and suspicious happenings and we believe the appropriate security measures would be put in place to protect the targeted judges and members of their families”, a highly-placed official of the Judicial Service told The Crusading GUIDE.

“ANYTIME TEARS COME FROM TSATSU’S EYES, U MUST KNOW THAT YOUR SOUL STARTS CRYING ALREADY IN HELL”, one of the threatening text messages directed at Mrs. Inkumsah-Abban alerted her.

“FROM NOW ANYTHING U EAT SHALL TASTE LIKE SALT TILL DEATH LAY ITS DIRTY HAND ON U, UR FAMILY”, another text message threatened ominously.

Our judicial service sources rationalised that Mrs. Inkumsah-Abban may have become a target of these threatening and insulting text messages because of the similarity between her name and that of Mrs. Henrietta Abban.

“IT COULD BE A CASE OF ‘MISTAKEN IDENTITY’ ARISING OUT OF IGNORANCE OR AN OVER-KILL OF ENTHUSIASM; EITHER WAY IT IS A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SITUATION NOT TO BE UNDERRATED”, emphasised our sources.

Our judicial service sources revealed that these anonymous text messages are not being underestimated hence the security services have been alerted and all the text messages and the telephone numbers from which they emanated have been handed over to them (Security Services) for their investigation and action.

“OUR SENSE OF HISTORY TELLS US TO BE ON THE RED ALERT. ONE OF THE THREE HIGH COURT JUDGES WHO WERE ABDUCTED AND MURDERED IN JUNE 1982, WAS THREATENED BEFORE THAT GRUESOME INCIDENT TOOK PLACE. THE SITUATION CALLS FOR ETERNAL VIGILANCE ON EVERYBODY’S PART; JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE AND THE SANCTITY OF OUR COURTS INCLUDING THE SECURITY AND SAFETY OF OUR JUDGES MUST NOT BE COMPROMISED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES”, quipped a top Judicial Service official who pleaded anonymity. Mrs. Henrietta Abban, the judge who presided over Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata’s trial, has also been a subject of media and public ridicule since she delivered her judgement on June 18, 2008. Her physical looks have been ridiculed in both the print and electronic media with the so-called serial callers having a field day against her and her judgment on some radio stations.

Crowds of pro-Tsatsu Tsikata protesters have sang profane songs against her at the court premises some of which have been re-captured by some radio stations for onward transmission to a wider audience.

Significantly a leading figure of the FREE TSATSU MOVEMENT (FTM), Mr. Kyeretwie Opoku was heard on Radio Gold lamenting this negative trend of ridiculing the physical looks of Mrs. Henrietta Abban. Mr. Opoku advised against that trend and appealed to those who wish to criticise the judge’s judgement to focus on the issues rather than engage in attacks on her personality. Mr. Kwasi Pratt, Jnr., a senior journalist, expressed similar sentiments on last Monday’s Good Morning Ghana (GMG) programme on Metro TV.

“JUDGEMENTS OF OUR COURTS AND JUDGES CANNOT PLEASE ALL GHANAIANS. THOSE JUDGEMENTS CAN BE SCRUTINISED AND CRITICISED. THERE’S NOTHING INHERENTLY WRONG WITH THAT. HOWEVER RIDICULING THE PERSONALITIES AND PHYSICAL LOOKS OF THE JUDGES AND SENDING THEM THREATENING AND INSULTING TEXT MESSAGES WOULD NOT AUGUR WELL FOR THE DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY AND THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY”, noted a veteran Lawyer who didn’t want to be identified.

Attempts to seek confirmation of notice of these death threats and insults against judges via text messages with officials of the Security Services hit a dead end as no official was prepared to discuss the issue.

“WE DO NOT DISCUSS SUCH ISSUES WITH THE MEDIA. OUR MANDATE IS TO PROTECT ALL CITIZENS INCLUDING JUDGES. THAT IS A ROUTINE RESPONSIBILITY. THAT IS ALL WE WILL SAY FOR NOW”, retorted a senior security official who refused to confirm or deny whether the Security Services had been notified of the issuance of ‘death threats’ to some judges in the country.

Stay tuned for further developments…