September 11, 2008 (Page 3 Lead)
THE Accra Fast Track High Court yesterday granted bail to the tune of GH¢25,000 to five persons who have been charged with possessing firearms and ammunition without authority and dishonestly receiving.
The five — Daniel Yeboah, a Police Constable; Sumaila Seidu, Issaka Fuseini, Awinbilla John Ndego and Alhassan Hamza — were arrested on different occasions at Bawku.
Each of the accused persons was granted a GH¢5,000 bail with a surety each to be justified.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Charles Quist, also prohibited the accused persons from entering Bawku until the final determination of the matter.
It also ordered them to report to the Bolgatanga office of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) every Monday at 9 a.m.
The court also granted bail to a sixth accused person, Nuhu Fuseini, 15, and ordered a parent or guardian of the juvenile to stand as surety.
All the accused persons had pleaded not guilty to the charge of possessing firearms and ammunition without lawful authority.
The six, except the juvenile, were present in court yesterday.
The court granted bail to the accused persons after their counsel, Mr Carl Adongo, had prayed the court to grant them bail on the grounds that the charges levelled against them were bailable.
According to the court, the law allowed bail to be granted to persons charged with similar offences, adding that in any case, the case had been adjourned four times in his court and on each occasion, the prosecution was absent.
Consequently, the trial judge granted each of the accused persons bail in the sum of GH¢10,000 but Mr Adongo pleaded with the court to reduce the bail, since the accused persons were poor peasant farmers.
The court obliged and accordingly reduced it from GH¢10,000 to GH¢5,000.
It also decided to order the accused persons to report to the Bolgatanga CID instead of the CID in Accra after the defence counsel had prayed it to review its decision. According to counsel, the accused persons did not have relatives in Accra.
The court, however, maintained its earlier order that the accused persons should not enter Bawku until the final determination of the matter.
A seventh accused person, Ibrahim, was not brought because the docket on his case had not been put before the court.
His case was adjourned to September 22, 2008, while that of the other six accused persons was adjourned to September 24, 2008.
Mr Adongo had earlier informed the court that the continuous detention of the accused persons was unreasonable because they had been on remand since January, 2008.
The brief facts of the case were that Sumaila Seidu was caught by security forces while in possession of a locally manufactured pistol loaded with live cartridges around 8.00 p.m. on February 4, 2008, while Nuhu Fuseini was arrested in possession of 16 rounds of ammunition.
According to the prosecution, on May 13, 2008, Daniel Yeboah allegedly stole an AK 47 assault rifle and 30 rounds of ammunition, while Ndego was caught in possession of two AK 47 assault rifles on June 27, 2008.
Issaka Fuseini and Daniel Yeboah were charged with dishonestly receiving and possessing firearms and ammunition without lawful authority, while Alhassan Hamza was charged with possessing firearms without lawful authority.
In a related development, the Osu District Magistrate’s Court on September 2, 2008 refused bail for eight persons who have been accused of committing murder during the Bawku conflicts.
The accused persons — Alhaji Fuseini Abugri, Amadu Abugri, Alidu Abugri, Imoro Salifu, Adamu Salifu, Haruna Ibrahim, Tanim Adam and Adamu Salifu — were arrested on different occasions by a joint military and police task force deployed in Bawku to restore law and order.
They have all pleaded not guilty to various counts of conspiracy and murder charges.
According to the court, the accused persons were murder suspects and it was, therefore, not prudent for the court to grant them bail.
It, therefore, gave the prosecution two weeks to put its facts together in order for the trial to begin.
The court, which refused to grant the bail after counsel for the accused persons had prayed the court to grant them bail, adjourned the matter to September 16, 2008.
The murder suspects were first arraigned before the court on July 4, 2008 charged with various counts of conspiracy and murder.
The prosecution informed the court that Alhaji Fuseini, Amadu and Alidu Abugri, all siblings, allegedly slit the throats of an 80-year-old man and children at a village in Bawku on June 25, 2008 in retaliation over the death of their relative.
The prosecution said Imoro and Adamu Salifu shot and killed a contractor who was returning from the mosque on May 4, 2008 without any provocation, while Haruna Ibrahim, a Kusasi, was accused of ambushing Muniru Adam and chopping off his head in the process on May 5, 2008.
Tanim Adam, a revenue collector, was accused of using an object to kill Yeremin Alhassan, a 53-year-old educationist, on May 13, 2008.
Adamu Salifu was alleged to have vandalised property, killing one person in the process, at a festival in Bawku on December 31, 2007.
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