An Accra High Court has admitted video evidence in the ongoing criminal case involving the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, after dismissing objections raised by the prosecution.
Presiding judge, Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, ruled that issues concerning the authenticity of the video could be addressed during cross-examination, allowing the evidence to be tendered.
At Thursday’s hearing, defence lawyer Andy Appiah-Kubi indicated readiness to proceed with a Case Management Conference (CMC) for a key witness, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah.
He told the court that additional witness statements had been filed on May 25 and May 28, 2026.
However, Senior State Attorney Nana Ama Prempeh opposed the move, arguing that the prosecution had not been served with all the filed statements.
She drew the court’s attention to a fresh statement submitted in court, attributed to Evans Adai, whose name, she noted, had not been previously listed among expected witnesses.
She therefore urged the court to compel the defence to furnish a full list of witnesses to avoid fragmented case management.
The court acknowledged that one of the statements had been filed shortly before proceedings and had not yet been formally received.
It subsequently directed that the CMC proceed with the earlier statement filed on May 25 in respect of Mr Darko-Mensah.
During the hearing, the defence sought to tender the witness statement together with a pen drive cited in paragraph 39, which allegedly contained footage from an inspection at a mining site.
The prosecution objected to the admission of the pen drive, contending that the video lacked a timestamp to verify its origin and authenticity, reportedly linked to the Samreboi concession of Akonta Mining.
In response, the defence maintained that the relevance of the video had been established in the witness statement and was essential to the case.
Ruling on the objection, Justice Kocuvie-Tay held that the concerns raised by the prosecution could be tested through cross-examination.
She therefore overruled the objection and admitted both the witness statement and the pen drive as evidence in chief.
The case has been adjourned to June 1, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. for further hearing.
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