Government appeals Ya-Na ruling today

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Martin Amidu, says his office will today Monday April 4, file an appeal against the Fast Track High Court ruling that acquitted and discharged 15 persons standing trial for the death of the late Dagbon overlord, Ya-Naa Yakubu Andani II.

Government has come under intense pressure from members of the Andani Gate, since the ruling on Tuesday March 29.

The Andanis have expressed disappointment at the ruling mainly because the Mills administration made it a major campaign promise to arrest and prosecute the killers of the late King.

Although the suspects were discharged due to lack of evidence, according to the trial Judge, Government believes something went amiss.

Some members of the Government have even accused the trial Judge, Justice E.K. Ayebi, of bias.

Justice Ayebi in his ruling said: “It was not sufficient for the prosecution to say that the Ya-Naa 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-Naa.”

“In law, the death of the Ya-Naa 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-Naa, then the accused persons could not be held liable for the death of the Ya-Naa,” the trial judge held.

But the Attorney General believes the Judge erred in his ruling leading to a miscarriage of justice.

He said Government will follow due process to ensure that the ruling is reversed.

“Indeed the grounds of appeal have been prepared. It will be fine-tuned and filed accordingly. Fundamentally, if you listen to the Judge’s ruling, he premised his findings on the proceedings of the Wuako Commission report and looking at it carefully, we have come to the conclusion that the proceedings were not authenticated, they were inadmissible and were wrongly admitted. So he wrongly premised his ruling on those pieces of evidence and led to a miscarriage of justice. We want the Court of Appeal to reverse those findings and allow the case to take its normal course” Mr. Amidu noted.

BY: Citifmonline.com/Ghana