A private legal practitioner is vehemently supporting the position by the state prosecutor to discontinue the case against eight members of vigilante group Delta Force accused of assaulting a Circuit Court judge.
Augustine Obour says once there is no evidence there is nothing the prosecutor can do in court than to file for nolle prosequi.
“If there is no evidence; there is no evidence,” he said on Joy FM’s Ghana Connect programme on Friday.
He said even the so-called video evidence captured on the day of the attack cannot by itself be evidence except there is someone ready to speak to it.
He was contributing to the discussion on the release of some eight suspects who were initially accused of invading the Circuit Court in Kumasi, attacking the judge and freeing some 13 suspects already standing trial for a different offence.
The eight were released for lack of evidence but the commentary on the matter has been sharply divided.
The Minority in Parliament believes the ruling is nothing more than pandering to the whims of party supporters and crucifying the country’s rule of law.
But some supporters of the ruling government have supported the decision by the State Attorney to withdraw the case.
The Attorney General has meanwhile ordered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the withdrawal.
Augustine Obour insists the investigation will amount to nothing if there is still no evidence to back the prosecution.
He said the press statement issued by the Information Ministry on behalf of the Attorney General’s department is only political, insisting, “we are talking about law and evidence is the game.’
A member of the Ghana Connect panel who is no stranger to controversial court cases involving political party supporters said he would not blame the Attorney General or the State Prosecutor.
Ako Gunn is second from Right
Ako Gunn, who is one of the infamous Montie 3 NDC loyalists blamed the police for conducting a shoddy investigation.
He did not understand why only a handful of police personnel were present at the Circuit Court when in their case a battalion of policemen were present.
It was as if we were at war,” he said of the Montie trial. He and two others accused of threatening to kill Supreme Court judges and rape the Chief Justice were found guilty of criminal contempt and jailed for four months.
They were however granted presidential pardon after serving just a month in prison.
Ako-Gunn said the release of the eight Delta Force members was just a game to favour members of the vigilante group.
Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah
