BNI Officer To Testify In Tehoda Case


DSP Gifty Mawunyegah Tehoda.
Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) officer is expected to testify against the team that investigated DSP Gifty Mawunyegah Tehoda.

The police officer, who has sued the Ghana Police Service over her ‘unlawful dismissal,’ yesterday did not turn up at the Human Rights Court where the case is being heard.

The state attorney, Cecil Adadevoh, arrived without the witness, also said to be the investigator in the criminal charge against Gifty over the alleged swapping of 120 kilograms of cocaine with sodium bicarbonate. The BNI officer was not at the court because the investigator said he (witness) claimed he (witness) needed clearance from his boss.

The trial judge, Justice Kofi Essel Mensah, had the case adjourned to April 13, 2015.

Last Thursday Chief Supt Yakubu Aggrey Nantogmah of the Madina Divisional Police Command, who was part of the team that recommended the dismissal of the plaintiff (DSP Tehoda) had a tough time explaining why he went ahead to testify against Tehoda in her absence.

He told the court that he went ahead to hear evidence against Tehoda, even though he had been informed by her (Tehoda’s) lawyer that the hearing against his client should be stayed since the same matter was in court.

The witness, who made these admissions under  cross-examination by Ephraim Vodoagu, counsel for Tehoda, said he went ahead to conduct the sitting without informing Tehoda and called four witnesses each day who testified against her.

The witness also explained that there was an officer who cross-examined the witnesses on behalf of Tehoda without her being informed of the processes.

Furthermore, Chief Supt Yakubu Nantogmah said he went ahead to call witnesses after the Central Disciplinary Committee of the Ghana Police Service had asked him to go ahead with the hearing.

He also admitted that the plaintiff wrote to them to tell them to stay the proceedings when her counsel came there with her after she was initially invited.

The witness denied that he gave a ruling on the objection of the plaintiff and said it was a response. When asked to read what he wrote about the objection, the police officer read it aloud in which it was stated that the objection Tehoda raised was like comparing mangoes to apples and said senior police officers like DCOP Kofi Boakye subjected themselves to disciplinary proceedings.

The witness in his examination in-chief, had said he recommended the dismissal of Tehoda. He also asserted that he questioned the plaintiff over the removal of a prisoner without lawful authority.

By Fidelia Achama

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