The court presided over by Justice E.K Ayebi freed all 15 suspects who were standing trial over the alleged murder of the overload of Dagbon, Ya Na Yakubu Andani.
The ruling NDC and members of government including President Atta Mills who happens to by a law professor, have since made a huge fuss about the judge’s decision, thereby raising doubts about his credibility.
A statement issued and signed by President of the Bar Association, Frank W.K Beecham, described these developments as “regrettable, disquiet, incessant, uninformed, if not mischievous and unrestrained attacks on the person of Justice E.K Ayebi”.
But President Mills said he owed no apologies if his promise to find the killers of Ya Na Yakubu Andani, overlord of Dagbon, was interpreted as politicization of the issue.
In the said statement, the GBA emphasized that “the haste with which these attacks have been made suggests several preconceptions of protagonists on the matter without recourse to the actual ruling of the trail judge”. What baffled the GBA was the fact that some of these despicable comments have come from a couple of its own members who are supposed to know better.
This position of the GBA may have been informed by comments by a member of the legal team of the NDC, David Annan, in which he reiterated calls by his party Chairman, Dr. Kwabena Adjei for government to clean the judiciary of all politically-biased judges and corrupt practices if the Chief Justice fails to do so.
He continued by saying, “If the NPP are sitting there and acting as if a Daniel has come to justice; that Jesus Christ himself has descended from heavens and given an infallible judgment which cannot be touched; they are sorry mistaken”. For him, “It is very irritating and annoying that we constantly have to come and speak to this issue about bad judgment. It is one that we have stated before and this is where our Chairman said that we need to clean the judiciary”.
GBA has since urged its compatriots to secure copies of the ruling of the case, study and engage in what they referred to as ‘rational and decorous’ debate, with the view to advancing the fortunes of the nation.
This, the statement said, was because “our nation deserves a better attitude and behaviour from all its citizens”.
It has thus admonished the media and all who want to be informed about the matter to procure and read copies of the full ruling of the court since, according to the association, “it is only then that we can have an informed and honest debate over and assessment of these matters, which will in turn provide brighter light and less heat to our national fabric.”
Being human beings, the GBA admitted that some of these judges may and do err. The statement however said, “When they do, we must as civilized persons seek to correct the error by resorting to the constitution” since according to them “we cannot allow our dear nation to descend into anarchy”.
As a nation and a people, the GBA stressed the need for Ghanaians to discuss and debate the issues and refrain from unjustified attacks on persons who may hold views they disagree with.
The Attorney General, Martin Amidu, has indicated government’s desire to appeal against the ruling.
But Atta Akyea, a member of the defence counsel, in a sober mood, clad in mournful black apparel on Joy FM news analysis programme News File on Saturday, said he felt sorry for the killing of the respectable king of Dagbon.
He said he would however not condone a “juvenile” trial in which the state, intoxicated and driven by propaganda, would haul 15 Abudus before court and in a most shoddy manner, seek justice for murder of a king, when the facts on the ground pointed to a war situation.
Atta Akyea said so shoddy was the prosecution’s case that even the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, would have acquitted and discharged the suspects if he was the judge.
He said it was fundamental that in a war situation, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to prove which bullet from an adversary hit the Ya-Na.
He said the prosecution even failed to prove that the charred body for which the suspects were hauled before court was that of the Ya-Na’s and did not bother to pursue a DNA analysis before proceeding to court.
He described as embarrassing failure by one of the prosecution witness- Brigadier General Dr. Jaswant Mante Wadhwani (Rtd), who was tasked to conduct the autopsy, to state in clear, unambiguous terms that the charred body was that of the Ya-Na.
Instead he told the court the charred body was that of a male adult but could not state as a matter of fact whether it was that of the Ya-Na’s.
The sitting Judge, Justice E.K. Ayebi, in his ruling said: “It was not sufficient for the prosecution to say that the Ya-Na was dead and leave it at that.
Even the investigation was not conclusive of the identity of the charred body, nor was a DNA examination conducted to prove that the body was that of the Ya-Na.” “In law, the death of the Ya-Na must be proven beyond reasonable doubt, especially in the absence of a death certificate.
If the prosecution failed to prove that the charred remains were the body of the Ya-Na, then the accused persons could not be held liable for the death of the Ya-Na,” the trial judge held.
Upholding the ruling by the judge, Atta Akyea said the witnesses- all Andanis- were well fed in a hotel not only with food but with “rehearsed lies.” He said the testimonies they provided were “dishonest,” “unreliable,” and their evidence “anemic”.
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