Crime & Punishment of Saturday, 22 August 2015

Source: GNA

Lawyer commends AG for standing up for rule of law

Mr Mathias Kwasi Yakah, a lawyer and human rights advocate has commended the Minister of Justice and Attorney General for seeking to challenge the conviction of Charles Antwi.

Antwi had confessed that he had intended to kill President John Dramani Mahama at a church, in Osu, and was convicted on his own plea.

But the Attorney General sees the conviction and sentencing as “wrong in law” and that “the judge should have observed and had reason to believe from the composure, demeanor and utterances of the accused person, who was unrepresented, that he was of unsound mind and incapable of making a defence.”

Mr Yakah, in a statement issued to the Ghana News Agency in Tema said, “I wish to express my admiration for the courage and condor of the Attorney General and the Director of Prosecutions for admitting and appealing against the erroneous trial of Charles Antwi.”

He said “to err is human but egregious aberrations of law and procedure by some judges must be condemned and sanctioned to help ensure trust and confidence in our judicial and democratic system.

“This is laudable and most likely unprecedented in the annals of Ghana’s criminal procedure and jurisprudence”, the statement said.