Prosecution absent at Amina’s trial

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 (Page 3 Lead)

THE prosecution in the case involving Amina Mohammed, the woman at the centre of the rape and robbery story, failed to show up when the case was called at the Circuit Court in Accra yesterday.
However, counsel for the accused person, Mr Andy Appiah-Kubi, was present in court together with Amina.
Amina, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of publishing false news with intent to cause fear and panic and deceit of public officer, arrived on the court premises about 8:20 a.m. in the company of her husband with her face covered with cloth to hide it from the cameras.
The matter was called at exactly 8:40 a.m. but the prosecutor and investigator in-charge of the case were absent, prompting the presiding judge, Mrs Patience Mills-Tetteh, to indicate that the court would not countenance any delays.
She indicated her resolve to dispose of the case by December 20, 2010.
Consequently, she adjourned the case to November 15, 22 and 23, 2010 for definite hearing.
After the adjournment, Mr Appiah-Kubi drew the court’s attention to discussions of the substantive matter in the media.
He was particularly worried about public officials joining the fray to prejudge the case.
According to counsel, such action had the tendency to undermine the judicial system and the powers of the court.
He, therefore, prayed the court to subject perpetrators to the powers of the court.
Mrs Mills-Tetteh said she had taken note of the concerns but advised counsel to raise the issues on the next adjourned date to enable other parties in the case to respond appropriately.
The court on November 2, 2010 refused bail for Amina and remanded her till yesterday, November 9, 2010, but her lawyers managed to secure bail for her at the Human Rights Court on Friday, November 5, 2010.
She was granted bail in the sum of GH¢5,000 with a surety by the court presided over by Mr Justice Paul U. Dery.
The brief facts of the case were that the accused person granted interviews to radio stations on October 26, 2010 and stated among other things that she was among passengers on a bus which was attacked by armed robbers when they reached Kintampo and that in the process the robbers ordered a mass rape of female occupants.
She was also quoted as saying a father was ordered to rape his 14-year-old daughter.
According to the prosecution, investigations revealed that such incident did not occur and said the driver of the said bus reported a case to the Ejisu Police and stated in his statement that his bus was nearly attacked by robbers at Kubease but he managed to escape with the destruction of his vehicle's windscreen due to gunshots.
The prosecution further stated that the driver of the bus drove off 30 minutes after reporting the incident, which occurred at about 10 p.m. on October 11, 2010.