A timely intervention by Capt Nkrabea Effah-Darteh, Counsel for Mr Kweku Amankwa, who has been accused of attempting to assassinate the Chief of Agave-Lakpo in the Volta Region, Togbe Abordor, prevented his client from being arrested with a bench warrant.
But the development that followed compelled the court to remand the suspect into police custody.
The Sogakofe court, presided over by His Honour Isaac Addo, which is hearing the case, had issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the suspect on November 2, 2021 for failing to appear when the case was called around 9am.
This was after the prosecutor had pleaded with the court to issue the bench warrant due to the persistent failure on the part of the suspect to avail himself for trial of the case.
The suspect at a point in time claimed he was sick and had been admitted to the Ridge Hospital in Accra.
His Honour Isaac Addo, in issuing the bench warrant, said he had previously given specific order for relevant documents indicating his admission in hospital to be brought to the court to prove that the accused was indeed on admission.
However, since he again failed to attend court to produce the said documents, he had no option than to issue the bench warrant.
Around 11: 09 am, after the bench warrant had been issued, Capt Nlrabea Effa-Darteh and his client appeared in court to render an apology for failing to make it earlier, when the case was called. He also pleaded with the court to cancel the bench warrant, a plea which was accepted by the court.
After the bench warrant order had been rescinded, the prosecution told the court that the police needed more time to complete investigations into the case. The defence counsel agreed with the prayer of the prosecution because he (counsel) himself does not understand the case of the prosecution.
The prosecutor, however, told the court that the accused must be remanded into police custody because he had failed to cooperate with the police after being granted police bail.
The presiding judge, Isaac Addo, agreed and remanded the accused on the grounds that on September 20, 2021 and October 6, 2021 when the suspect failed to appear in court due to alleged ill health, his counsel was asked to bring records, indicating that he had been admitted to Ridge Hospital, but the demand was not met.
The judge contended that there is no record indicating that the suspect was indeed sick, stressing that court orders must be obeyed at all times.
It would be recalled that this paper carried a story on September 15, 2021 with the heading – “Police Foil Assassination Attempt on Chief”, which the suspect was arrested by the Sogakope police and the case subsequently sent to the Sogakope court for hearing. The suspect, however, failed to appear in court after being granted police enquiry bail, claiming that he was sick.
