Victor Kwadjoga Adawudu, Counsel for four of the alleged coup plotters currently standing trial in Accra, exchanged heated words with the three-member panel of judges, for going ahead with the case, after he (Adawudu) had fallen sick.
He did not understand why the court will adjourn sitting when a member of the panel is indisposed, but failed to extend the same gesture to him.
He expressed this displeasure when he was refused the chance to re-examine Kafui Doyan, aka Ezor, the second accused person by the panel, presided over by Justice Afia Asare-Botwe.
Mr Adawudu lost his cool and argued extensively with the court that he was indisposed on Monday, hence was not available to lead his client in evidence.
He contended that instead of the court adjourning to enable him attend to his health problem, it proceeded to ask his client, Kafui Donya, to give his evidence-in-chief.
One of the panel members, Stephen Oppong, however, indicated to Counsel that the court was at liberty to continue with proceedings, even in the absence of lawyers in the case.
Adawudu did not, however, take kindly to the position espoused by the judge, resulting in heated arguments.
Justice Stephen Oppong who was not happy with the stance taken by the Counsel, cautioned him that he should not be talking back to the bench and that it should be the last time of doing that.
But Adawudu furiously responded that the “bar will reciprocate respect from the bench.”
The panel also replied him, urging him to keep his respect and that after all, he was not the one who appointed them.
The heated exchanges ignited the atmosphere in the court.
Mr Adawudu attempted to re-examine his client after the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Yvonne Attakora Obuobisa concluded her cross-examination.
Mrs Obuobisa refuted the claim by the second accused in the trial that he visited Accra to manufacture weapons at the instance of the third prosecution witness (PW3), Sergeant Awarf Sulley.
Proving this point with a number of videos played at court, she said Sulley Awarf was introduced to the accused for the first time in the late Dr Frederick MacPalm’s (first accused) house.
She said it was in the first accused’s (A1) house that PW3 took A2’s contact, therefore, he couldn’t have been the one who called to engage him.
Mrs Obuobisa stated that A2 was invited by Dr MacPalm to produce locally manufactured guns and IEDs, which were going to be used to violently overthrow a constitutional government.
The following is continuation of cross-examination;
Q. PW3, Sulley Awarf, did not even have your number before you came to Accra, so he could not have been the one who called you and invited you to Accra to work for him?
A. PW3 was the person who called me to come to Accra. Because of that, I met him at 37 and he took me to A1’s house.
Q. In Exhibit AN, which is your caution statement that you gave to the police on 22/9/19, on page 2 of that statement, you stated that a friend told you that a Doctor wanted you to come to Accra?
A. That is not true.
Q. You also stated that this friend gave your number to the Doctor and he also called you?
A. That is not so.
Q. You also stated that when everything was fresh in your memory, this doctor also sent you GH¢100.000 which you used as transport?
A. PW3 sent me GH¢100.00 to use to come to Accra and later on Dr. also sent me some money.
Q. You also stated that at Dr MacPalm’s residence, he told you he wanted you to manufacture 10 pistols and explosives for him?
A. What I said was that he asked me to repair guns, not to manufacture them.
Q. You also stated in the same page 2 that you agreed to do this work and charged GH¢2,300 for each pistol and GH¢4,000 for the explosives.
A. That is not so. I did not say I will make explosives, but funeral musketry.
Q. What you stated in Exhibit AN is what has been captured in audio recording, which is part of Exhibit E, when you went to Dr MacPalm’s residence on 28/2/19?
A. I want the audio to be played.
(MacPalm speaking: Ezor is not a stranger to me)
Prosecution: Now from pages 2 and 3 of Exhibit G14, when you got to Accra, Dr MacPalm introduced you to Sulley and others?
A. Sulley was the person who took me to Dr MacPalm’s place and when Doctor realised I was speaking Ewe and we were from the same place, he took it upon himself to do the introduction?
Q. This cannot be true because Dr MacPalm told Sulley you have come to do some work for him?
A. That is not so
Q. Mr Ezor, in this same audio recording on page 24 of Exhibit G 14, you gave Sulley your number for the first time so he could not have been the one who called you?
(Audio playing: Dr MacPalm speaking -It is you and Ezor. I have his number. Sulley Awarf: …2323. The name is Mr Ezor. Spelling E. Z. O. R)
A. Sulley was the person who called me and I met him at 37 before he took me to Dr MacPalm’s residence.
Q. Mr Sulley couldn’t have called you till you gave it to him?
A. I have two numbers.
Q. On which number did Sulley call you on?
A. On 0247058533
Q. Mr Ezor, this cannot be true, because you did not give any of these numbers to the group when you came to Accra and they wanted your number?
A. My lady, the number I spoke to Sulley was …but when we got to Dr MacPalm’s residence, I gave him another number which we were communicating on.
Q. Again, in your own caution statement, on page 3, on the first line, you stated that you came to Doctor’s residence upon direction given to you by Doctor?
A. That is not so.
Q. Mr Ezor, you came to Dr MacPalm purposely to manufacture IEDs and locally manufactured pistols?
A. That is not so
Q. And you also knew that these locally manufactured guns and IEDs were going to be used violently to overthrow the constitutional government?
A. I didn’t know
Q. On page 3 of Exhibit AN, you stated that Doctor told you that what you were coming to produce was going to be taken to the Flagstaff house for a coup?
A. That is not so
A. You also stated that Dr MacPalm told you to hurry up so that the equipment could be used for the coup?
A. That is not so
Q. In fact, one Stephen, who was with you when he heard what Dr MacPalm said, advised you that Dr MacPalm was a bad man so you should leave?
A. That’s true
Q. Now you also stated that you will produce six pistols and 22 explosives for Doctor?
A. I repaired six pistols.
Q. You also stated that you repaired 22 explosives.
A. I stated I manufactured 22 funeral musketries.
Q. You said that Dr MacPalm gave you some chemicals and six syringes to put in the explosives?
A. That is not so
Q. You stated that the purpose of the explosive was to make people sleep?
A. That is not so.
Q. It is true that you put the chemical in the explosives because this is verified by the analyst report, Exhibit A?
A.That is not true.
Q. In your conversation with Dr MacPalm, A3 and Sulley Awarf, contained in Exhibit, some chemicals and components were mentioned to be put in the explosives?
A. That is not so
Q. On page six of 28, of exhibit G14, in the last paragraph, it is the transcription of the meeting of 28/7/19. Dr MacPalm stated that you could put in pepper and gas and other chemicals used for operation in the explosives?
A. That’s not so
Q. In exhibit J, which is a forensic report of the IEDs and pistols; powdered pepper, syringes and … spinal injection were found in the IEDs?
A. That is not so
Q. From page 12 of Exhibit J, which is still the audio recording of your conversations of …you talked about the number of pistols you were going to produce?
A. He talks about the guns I will repair because Sulley brought in the guns I was to repair.
Q. What kind of guns did Sulley bring to you?
A. They were different pistols
Q. Can you tell the court the kind of pistols?
A. I don’t know their exact names but I remember one was a revolver pistol.
Q. Were they locally manufactured pistols or foreign?
A. Some were locally manufactured pistols and others foreign.
Q. You said Sulley brought you pistols from the military high command. He could not have brought you locally manufactured pistols?
A. As I mentioned before, they were locally manufactured pistols and foreign ones. I don’t know where he got the locally manufactured ones from.
Q. The locally manufactured ones were manufactured by you?
A. That is not so.
Q. This is the video dated 17/12/19- 00020
(Video playing) Do you recognise this place?
A. Yes
Q. Which place is that?
A. Doctor’s residence.
Q. In this video can you identify the person?
A. I’m the one
Q. Now you see some pipes at your left. Can you tell the court what those pipes are?
A. Those are some of the funeral musketries.
Q. Can you tell the court what you were pounding?
A. I was pounding gunpowder and sand.
Q. What is the nature of gunpowder?
A. It is black
Q. Is it in a form of powder?
A. It grounded but not too fine
Q. I put it to you that what you were pounding include pepper, gunpowder and other chemicals that you were pounding to get fine powder?
A. I pounded only gunpowder and sound
Q. The reason you were pounding all these material was because upon explosion it would have a lethal effect?
A. When you put gunpowder in pipe you would have to pound it. So I did not add anything.
Q. These pipes are not the kind of pipes used for funeral musketry?
A. These are the types of pipes used for funeral musketry
Q. You knew that what you were manufacturing were going to be used to violently overthrow the government.
A. That is not so.
Q. These pipes were the same pipes that were brought to be tendered as exhibit N?
A. That is not so
Q. Mr Ezor, I put it to you that these are the pipes, were the same pipes you worked on as stated in this video?
A. That is not so
Q. Mr Ezor, this is Pic 0005 19/8/19. Can you identify this place?
A. Yes.
Q. Which place is this?
A. That is Doctor’s residence.
Q. Which implements are these?
A. The device in the red container is used for making holes.
Q. These were implements you used. Is that correct?
A. Yes. They were tools I used.
Q. Where did you purchase them from?
A. I bought some from Accra and Hohoe.
Q. Now can you identify the implement, what he is pointing to?
A. Those are some of the guns Sully brought to me to repair.
Q. Are they foreign or local?
A. the one to the left of the scene are locally manufactured guns and the others to the right of the screen are foreign.
Q. There is also one here. That is also locally manufactured pistols
A. It is a locally manufactured gun.
Q. All the guns are locally manufactured guns?
A. That is not true.
Q. You saw the implements. What was that?
A. Those were the old implement I was repairing
Q. This is Stephen, isn’t it?
A. Yes
Q. Stephen was the one who advised you that Dr MacPalm was a bad person?
A. Yes. He was the one who advised me.
Q. Mr Ezor, I put it to you that you were the one who manufactured all the 22 IEDs.
A. No.
Q. You were the one who manufactured the locally manufactured gun?
A. That is not so.
Q. I also put it to you that you manufactured them, knowing the purpose for which it was going to be used.
A. That is not so, I don’t know anything about.
Q. You acted together with Dr MacPalm, A3, with A4, A6 and A5 to violently overthrow the government.
A. That is not true. I don’t know the people whose names have been mentioned. And also it was after we were arrested and arraigned before court before that I got to know some of the accused persons. And I also did not know about any plot to overthrow the government.
Re-examination
Q. You were shown Exhibit AN, that is the caution statement to the police. In that statement it says that you stated what has happened.
