BH man's court date in Ghana adjourned again

The trial in Ghana for Roy Barry of Benton Harbor was adjourned Thursday until April 13, said St. Joseph attorney John Smietanka.

He said that according to Barry, the prosecutor’s main witness was there but left before testifying. He said this is the ninth or 10th time the judge has adjourned the case. At a previous hearing, he said the witness was there but couldn’t testify because he had laryngitis.

Barry was arrested on the charge of human trafficking Sept. 8 when he took his wife’s 6-year-old goddaughter, Angel, to the U.S. Embassy in Accra for travel documents. Barry was bringing Angel to Michigan for a three-week visit because his wife, Kim Barry, is too ill to travel. Smietanka said no one has seen the girl since embassy officials took her away, though the judge has ordered the prosecutor to let Angel’s father visit her.

Smietanka said an American judge would have thrown this case out of court months ago.

“Unfortunately, this is a problem in a country with a legal system that is very different than ours,” he said. “We can’t mandate what we would consider normal, just processes.

Kim Barry said her husband continues to work with youth in Ghana through a ministry he started, Training Champions 4Jesus.

“We have to walk by faith and not by sight,” she said. “It’s God’s will when he comes home.”

Kim Barry said she is waiting for her husband to come home before has surgery for a rare lung condition.