NDC, NPP fans in showdown

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 (Page 3 Lead)

THERE was a showdown between supporters and opponents of Nana Darkwa Baafi, who is standing trial for allegedly publishing false news with intent to cause alarm, as the two groups pelted each other with stones.
A similar showdown between Nana Baafi’s supporters and opponents occurred on March 3, 2010 when they rained insults on each other.
At the sitting of the Cocoa Affairs Court yesterday, his supporters and opponents staged another showdown but this time they threw stones at each other outside the inner perimeter of the court.
It all began when opponents of Baafi did not take kindly to the level of moral support received by him when he stepped out of the courtroom to board a waiting pick-up truck. The two groups initially engaged in verbal insults but the exchanges degenerated into the pelting of stones at each other.
After a series of stone-throwing and insults, most of whom are unprintable, the two groups went their separate ways, promising to catch up with each other on the next adjourned date.
Earlier, the trial judge, Mr C.A. Wilson, had issued a subpoena to Top Radio, ordering it to furnish the court with the recording in which Baafi was alleged to have stated that former President J. J. Rawlings intentionally set fire to his own house on February 14, 2010.
The court issued the subpoena after the prosecutor in the case, Deputy Superintendent of Police Mr E. Y. Frimpong, had prayed the court to issue a subpoena to the radio station on the grounds that the court’s registrar had stated that he could only issue the subpoena based on a court order.
Counsel for the accused person, Mr Kwame Akuffo, was of the view that it was not necessary for the court to issue the subpoena on the grounds that the prosecution could have filed an application at the registry.
Baafi’s plea was not taken again because the prosecution substituted the charge sheet, although the charges and facts of the case remained the same.
He has been charged with one count of publishing false news with intent to cause alarm under Section 208 of Act 60 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The facts of the case were that on February 18, 2010, the accused person went to the radio station as a panel member in a radio discussion programme and during the discussions the host raised the issue of the recent fire outbreak at the former President’s residence.
The prosecution stated that the accused person, who was not present during the fire outbreak and without any truth, stated, among other things, that the former President had intentionally caused the fire outbreak to compel the current President to relocate him.
According to the prosecution, the statement incensed the public and a sizeable number of people rushed to the radio station, ostensibly to attack the host and the panel members.
The police rushed to the scene to restore law and order and subsequently whisked the panel members away to safety.
It further stated that Baafi admitted the offence during interrogation at the Accra Regional Police Headquarters and asked for forgiveness.
The complainant in the case is Mr Kofi Adams, the Spokesperson for former President Rawlings.