Court defers coke girls' sentence

January 11, 2008 (Page 23)

THE Juvenile Court in Accra has adjourned to January 23, 2008, sentencing of the two British juveniles who were found guilty of possessing six kilogrammes of cocaine.
This is to enable the Department of Social Welfare to study a social service report from the British authorities considered crucial in assisting the court to sentence Yasemin Vatasever and Yetunde Diya, both 16 and of Cypriot and Nigerian parentage respectively.
The two were convicted by the court on November 21, 2007 after they were found guilty of conspiracy and possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority but the sentence was deferred to December 5, 2007.
On December 5, 2008, the court had to defer the sentence again because it had not received the social services report on the girls. It then deferred sentencing to Wednesday, January 9, 2008.
At the court’s sitting in Accra on Wednesday, it emerged that the Department of Social Welfare received the report on the girls on Monday and an official of the department, therefore, prayed the court to adjourn the case for two weeks to enable the department to thoroughly study the report before advising the court appropriately.
The trial judge warned that it would not countenance any excuses on the next adjourned date.
The report was expected to give a profile and background on the juveniles from the British authorities.
A third accused person, Florina Rotario, 20, who was arrested alongside the girls, is, however, standing trial in a separate court because she is not a juvenile.
Florina who is currently on remand was expected to appear before the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal on January 21, 2008.
Anxious local and foreign journalists and many people who thronged the Juvenile Court premises in Accra on Wednesday to hear the sentence of the two girls were disappointed as it was deferred.
The trial was heard in camera because the law did not permit cases involving juveniles to be heard in open court but that did not take away its intense public attention.
In all, seven prosecution witnesses and one defence witness were said to have testified in the trial, which lasted about four months.
The girls pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy and possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority and maintained that they were lured into Ghana by two men who left them to their fate.
They were arrested at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) by officials of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) on July 2, 2007.
Each had in her possession three kilogrammes of cocaine hidden in her laptop bag.
At the last sitting of the court, lawyers of the girls declared their intention to appeal against the convictions.