HO COURT GRANTS BAIL TO SEVEN (Page 34)

Story: Tim Dzamboe, Ho

THE Ho High Court has granted bail to seven persons arrested by the police in connection with the Anlo chieftaincy conflict in which four persons died during a clash on November 1, this year.
The seven, accused of “murder” and “riot with weapon”, were bailed at GH¢15,000 each with one surety. They are to report themselves to the Keta District Police once every two weeks.
The accused persons are Yao Agbemakpor, John Kwawu Sefogah, Aaron Agbota, Kwawu Galley, Francis Adzrah, Prince Wisdom Kpodo and Atsu Afedo. They are being represented by Mr Ernest Gaewu.
The seven have been in prison custody since November 2 when the police arrested 75 people, out of which 67 were granted police enquiry bail, while eight of them were remanded in police custody in Ho.
One of the suspects, Israel Kwabla Amenume, died while still in custody, leaving the seven who were eventually granted bail yesterday.
They first appeared before the Ho District Magistrate Court on November 5 and again on November 22, but the court, presided over by Mr P.W. Amedior, declined them bail and advised their counsel to apply to the High Court for bail.
The High Court, presided over by Mr Justice Kofi Essel-Mensah, said the case was silent on who actually murdered the constable, adding that if all the accused persons kidnapped and murdered the constable, then they would have acted in concert.
He said, however, that a charge of conspiracy was not preferred against the accused persons and that the facts were not supportive of the case.
The judge said the facts of the case were replete with doubts and that, in the circumstance, the charge of murder preferred against them was not well laid.
According to him, the offence of murder, with which the accused had been charged, was for the sake of convenience only to allow the police ample time to conduct investigations into the whole affair.
Mr Essel-Mensah said the irony in the bail application was that as the prosecution was seeking to do justice by bringing the perpetrators of the heinous crime to book, grave injustice of unfathomable proportions was being done to the applicants.
The Chief State Attorney for the Volta Region, Mrs Felicia Okyere-Darko, who prosecuted, said the state was opposed to the application for bail and had filed an affidavit in opposition.