General News of Saturday, 8 June 2024
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
Lawyer Martin Kpebu has strongly critiqued a recent ruling on a mistrial application filed by two accused persons in a high-profile financial crimes case.
Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa, filed separate applications seeking the declaration of a mistrial in the ambulance purchase case.
Both accused persons cited contents of a leaked audio between Attorney-General Godfred Dame and Jakpa for their application.
On Thursday, June 6, 2024, the presiding judge, Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, ruled that the application filed by the former Deputy Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, was not tenable.
Lawyer Kpebu, however, robustly disagreed with the judge stressing that she should have at least heard the lawyers for both applicants before writing her ruling on the matter.
He explained extensively on TV3 (June 7, 2024) that there are tonnes of literature on criminal disclosures in the United States, United Kingdom and other African countries where mistrials have been granted over similar reasons cited by the applicants.
"Sometimes a common lie by the prosecution witness or the prosecutor just suppressing some evidence, then the whole trial is stopped, so many of them (cases).
"The judge handicapped herself from receiving such arguments from the defence lawyers. There was huge mistake, this area of the law is new so it shouldn't be taken for granted that let's leave it for the judge alone," he stressed.
"The judge needs to listen to the arguments from the lawyers, they had to bring their cases then she would blend with hers, the outcome would have been better than the situation where she alone just did the ruling," he emphasized.
Kpebu stressed that with defence counsels like Thaddeus Sory for Jakpa and Abdul Aziz Bamba for Ato Forson, the ruling would have been much richer and better.
My Business Law even taught me that common law is a source of our laws and that JSC Serwaa made a huge mistake. The Mistrial application should have been moved and admitted for her to learn. pic.twitter.com/smcqSr96nH
— KOJO DYNAMIC 𓃵 (@AnnanPerry) June 7, 2024