{"id":720210,"date":"2019-10-10T11:08:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T11:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/"},"modified":"2019-10-10T11:08:34","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T11:08:34","slug":"obengfo-freed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/","title":{"rendered":"Obengfo Freed! &#8211;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p> <strong>Dr. Dominic Obeng-Andoh <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An Accra Circuit<br \/>\nCourt has acquitted and discharged Dr. Dominic Obeng-Andoh, the Director of Obengfo<br \/>\nHospital \u2014<br \/>\na private medical centre in Accra \u2014 as the prosecution could not prove a<br \/>\ncase brought against him for allegedly practising without licence.<\/p>\n<p>According<br \/>\nto the court, presided over by Emmanuel Essandoh, \u00a0the charges levelled<br \/>\nagainst him were \u201cdiametrically apart\u201d,\u00a0<br \/>\nand the prosecution could not provide any document to corroborate the<br \/>\nallegation that he was operating without a licence.<\/p>\n<p>Besides,<br \/>\nthe court held that there were inconsistencies in the evidence given by the<br \/>\nprosecution witnesses in a bid to prove the case of the Ghana Medical and<br \/>\nDental Council (GMDC).<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Essandoh\u2019s ruling<br \/>\nfollowed a submission of no case filed by lawyers for Dr. Obeng-Andoh \u2014<br \/>\nNana Kofi Bekoe and Dr. Emmanuel Maurice Ankrah \u2014 after the prosecution had closed<br \/>\nits case.<\/p>\n<p>It<br \/>\nwas the case of the defence team that the police failed to provide enough<br \/>\nevidence to proof their case, urging the court to acquit and discharge the<br \/>\nmedical doctor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>No Case<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It<br \/>\nwould be recalled that another court had earlier this year struck out the same case<br \/>\nagainst Dr. Obengfo for want of prosecution.<\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\nmedical practitioner had been hauled before the court since June last year and<br \/>\ncharged with two counts of practising medicine without lawful authority, and<br \/>\noperating an unlicensed health facility by the state based on a complaint filed<br \/>\nby the GMDC.<\/p>\n<p>Dr.<br \/>\nObeng-Andoh had all the time denied the charges levelled against him and was in<br \/>\ncourt at every stage of the proceedings, but the complainant being the Medical<br \/>\nCouncil had failed to assist the court in the matter.<\/p>\n<p>During<br \/>\nthe first trial, the prosecution had on many occasions asked the court for more<br \/>\ntime to enable them to gather their document as well as serve the accused<br \/>\nperson which the judge had always obliged.<\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\ncourt had warned them that it would be left with no option but to discharge Dr.<br \/>\nObeng-Andoh if the prosecution failed to serve the accused with the prosecution<br \/>\ndocuments by January 7, 2019 as they (prosecution) promised earlier.<\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\nprosecution, instead of complying with the court order, rather went back to<br \/>\ncourt praying for more time to do so.<\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\ndefence lawyers objected to their decision, saying the case had been adjourned<br \/>\nfor three consecutive times at the instance of the prosecution asking for more<br \/>\ntime.<\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\ncourt presided over by Priscilla Dapaah Mireku then struck out the case for<br \/>\nwant of prosecution, saying \u201cif the prosecution is not ready to prosecute their<br \/>\ncase, the accused person should not be made to suffer their actions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Second Trial<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Not<br \/>\nsatisfied with the decision of the court, and giving that the doctor was only<br \/>\ndischarged, the GMDC made another complaint to the police and Dr. Obeng-Andoh<br \/>\nwas once again charged with two counts of practising without a permit and<br \/>\noperating a health facility without an operating licence.<\/p>\n<p>But he has been acquitted and discharged by the court through the efforts of his lawyers which implies the police cannot charge him with the same offence again.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BY Gibril Abdul Razak<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Dominic Obeng-Andoh An Accra Circuit Court has acquitted and discharged Dr. Dominic Obeng-Andoh, the Director of Obengfo Hospital \u2014 a private medical centre in Accra \u2014 as the prosecution could not prove a case brought against him for allegedly practising without licence. According to the court, presided over by Emmanuel Essandoh, \u00a0the charges levelled [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":720211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-720210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Obengfo Freed! - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Obengfo Freed! - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Dr. Dominic Obeng-Andoh An Accra Circuit Court has acquitted and discharged Dr. Dominic Obeng-Andoh, the Director of Obengfo Hospital \u2014 a private medical centre in Accra \u2014 as the prosecution could not prove a case brought against him for allegedly practising without licence. According to the court, presided over by Emmanuel Essandoh, \u00a0the charges levelled [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Dr-Dominic-Obeng-Andoh.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/10\\\/obengfo-freed\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/10\\\/obengfo-freed\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036\"},\"headline\":\"Obengfo Freed! &#8211;\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-10T11:08:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/10\\\/obengfo-freed\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":518,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/10\\\/obengfo-freed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/Dr-Dominic-Obeng-Andoh.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/10\\\/obengfo-freed\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/10\\\/obengfo-freed\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/10\\\/obengfo-freed\\\/\",\"name\":\"Obengfo Freed! - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/10\\\/obengfo-freed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/10\\\/obengfo-freed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/Dr-Dominic-Obeng-Andoh.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-10T11:08:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/10\\\/obengfo-freed\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/10\\\/obengfo-freed\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/Dr-Dominic-Obeng-Andoh.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/Dr-Dominic-Obeng-Andoh.jpg\",\"width\":650,\"height\":539},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Obengfo Freed! - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Obengfo Freed! - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Dr. Dominic Obeng-Andoh An Accra Circuit Court has acquitted and discharged Dr. Dominic Obeng-Andoh, the Director of Obengfo Hospital \u2014 a private medical centre in Accra \u2014 as the prosecution could not prove a case brought against him for allegedly practising without licence. According to the court, presided over by Emmanuel Essandoh, \u00a0the charges levelled [&hellip;]","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Dr-Dominic-Obeng-Andoh.jpg","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/"},"author":{"name":"Ghana News","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#\/schema\/person\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036"},"headline":"Obengfo Freed! &#8211;","datePublished":"2019-10-10T11:08:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/"},"wordCount":518,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Dr-Dominic-Obeng-Andoh.jpg","articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/","name":"Obengfo Freed! - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Dr-Dominic-Obeng-Andoh.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-10T11:08:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#\/schema\/person\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/10\/obengfo-freed\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Dr-Dominic-Obeng-Andoh.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Dr-Dominic-Obeng-Andoh.jpg","width":650,"height":539},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#\/schema\/person\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}