Wednesday, August 25, 2010 (Front Page)
THE Deputy Attorney-General, Mr Ebo Barton-Odro, says under no circumstance will he apologise to Mr Justice Anthony Oppong, a High Court judge who accused him of calling him a drunkard.
“His demand that I apologise is completely out of place,” Mr Barton-Odro stated, and questioned, “Is it not strange for him to demand an apology after recusing himself from the case?”
“I would not render any apology. Not today, not tomorrow. Never. His swipe at me and lawyers at the Attorney-General’s Department was most unfortunate and unbecoming of a judge,” Mr Barton-Odro stated in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
Responding to the judge’s demand for an apology and a retraction of his claims that there was the possibility of bias on his part in the case in which 14 suspects were before him for the murder of the late overlord of Dagbon, Mr Barton-Odro said nowhere did he state that Mr Justice Oppong was a drunk.
“I am challenging him (Justice Oppong) to produce a recording of my alleged radio interviews in which I accused him of being a drunk,” Mr Barton-Odro threw back the challenge at the judge who had on Monday recused himself and dared the Deputy Attorney-General to substantiate claims that he the trial judge was a drunk.
Mr Barton-Odro explained that he granted radio interviews on the matter and in one or two of the interviews he was asked under what circumstance a lawyer would ask a trial judge to recuse himself on the basis of bias to which he expounded that a lawyer could do that if he found the trial judge having a drink with an opponent in a case.
On Monday, Mr Justice Oppong took a swipe at the Deputy Attorney-General and his outfit and said he felt unsafe in handling the case in view of what was happening in the country in respect of allegations of bias, particularly threats from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) Chairman, Dr Kwabena Adjei.
He then urged the Chief Justice to transfer the matter from his court.
However, Mr Barton-Odro stated that there was no point for Mr Justice Oppong to feel unsafe because nobody was after his life and for that reason “there was no need for him to make such loose statements”.
Defending lawyers at the A-G’s office, Mr Barton-Odro said the lawyers were not stooges but professionals who knew how to go about their work with competence and due diligence.
According to Mr Barton-Odro, his claims that the trial judge sat at the Airforce Officers Mess in Takoradi to make prejudicial statements on the Ya-Na case was factual and not shameful as Mr Justice Oppong wanted the public to believe.
He said Mr Justice Oppong should have stayed on and challenged him to produce evidence to the effect that the judge had made prejudicial statements and if in the process he was not able to prove those allegations then the trial judge could go ahead and demand an apology.
Under the circumstance, the Deputy Attorney-General said it was very weird for Mr Justice Oppong to rush and recuse himself only to turn around and demand an apology.
The Deputy Minister of Justice also stated that there was no point for him to produce evidence to his claims because the trial judge had already recused himself from the case.
“If he had stayed on and challenged me to produce evidence to my claims, the battle lines would then have been drawn,” Mr Barton-Odro pointed out.
According to Mr Barton-Odro, it was most unfortunate for Mr Justice Oppong to conclude that because he had not received a copy of the motion paper which was challenging his neutrality, the A-G’s department had not filed that paper.
He said the paper was filed last Friday and all that the trial judge should have done as part of normal legal practice was to demand for a copy of the application and if at that point the A-G’s office was not able to produce any document to prove that the paper had been filed then he (the judge) could go ahead and state what was on his mind.
In the substantive matter, the 14 accused persons are on remand awaiting the Chief Justice to appoint another judge to hear their case.
On June 28, 2010, six of them, Alhaji Baba Abdulai Iddrisu, aka Zohe, Kwame Alhassan, aka Achiri, Mohamadu Abdulai, aka Samasama, Sayibu Mohammed, Alhassan Braimah and Alhaji Mohammed Habib Tijani, 45, a former District Chief Executive (DCE) for Yendi during the New Patriotic Party (NPP) regime, were indicted at the Adjabeng Magistrate’s Court in Accra.
Iddrisu Iddi, who was on admission at the Police Hospital in Accra at the last adjourned date, later appeared in court and was also committed to the High Court for trial.
And on July 15, 2010, the rest of the suspects were also committed for trial at the Accra High Court by the Adjabeng Magistrate’s Court, presided over by Ms Patricia Quansah.
They included Alhassan Mohammed, alias Mohammed Cheampon, Abukari Nabeli, aka Kunkakums or Kooms, Mohammed Mustapha, Yakubu Yusif, aka Leftee, Abdul Razak Yussif, aka Nyaa, and Shani Imoro.
The prosecution has stated that evidence would be led to show that Nabeli, who had held two used lorry tyres at the time of the incident, put them on the body of the Ya-Na, while Mustapha held a gallon of petrol on the body to set it ablaze.
It said Yusif had also held a gun by the body and that Yakubu had been seen with a chainsaw machine.
Abdul Yussif, the prosecution stated, had also been seen holding a camera and taking pictures of the scene and that after all that, another group of men, including the suspects, led by Iddi, had drummed, sung and danced around the burning body.
According to the prosecution, evidence would be led to prove that the accused persons played various roles which resulted in the death of the Ya-Na and 30 of his elders on March 27, 2002.
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