Court dismisses prosecution's application to re-open Ya-Na case

Accra, Dec. 17, GNA - The Accra Fast Track High Court trying 15 people for their alleged roles in the murder of the Ya-Na, the Overlord of the Dagbon Traditional Area, on Friday dismissed the application by prosecution to re-open its case and to call fresh evidence.

Mr Justice E.K. Ayebi, the trial judge, in his ruling said the prosecution had not sufficiently convinced the court that it could not obtain the evidence they were seeking to introduce during the trial. He said that the prosecution did have the said evidence before closing its case on November 5, but did not know what to do with it. "The Prosecution was in the know of the existence of this evidence from the beginning of this trial," he said.

He also raised questions about the eligibility of the said recording as a confession statement, as the prosecution had described it. He said the recording could not amount to a confession statement because it was not made in court or during any judicial proceeding as a plea of guilt. Also, at the time the recording was made, Alhassan Braimah, the accused person, was neither under any investigation for murder nor had he been charged with any criminal offence. It could not therefore be said to be a confession statement.

Mr Justice Ayebi further stated that the evidence sought to be called was not relevant to the charges against the accused person. He said the charge against him was conspiracy to murder and not murder and that the admission of such evidence would change the nature of the charge and that the evidence against the accused person was that he had been seen holding a machete on the day of the murder. Thus, the prosecution would have to amend the charge to murder, which would unduly prolong the matter.

The judge also said although the prosecution was obliged to furnish the court with the full nature of the evidence, it had not done so. He maintained that the evidence was not credible. Mr Justice Ayebi explained that the prosecution's reliance on section 182(3) of the criminal procedures code, 1963 was inappropriate. "I am unable to use my discretion to grant the application. Accordingly, the application is dismissed," he said. The court gave the defence by January 10, 2011 to file its submission of "no case" against accused persons and the prosecution, by January 20, 2011 to file its response.

The matter has been adjourned to January 31 for both sides to highlight their submissions. So far, 12 witnesses had testified in the case in which 15 persons are standing trial for their alleged involvement in the murder of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II, Overlord of Dagbon, and 30 others in March 2002. They have all pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to murder and murder and remanded in police custody.

The accused persons are: Mohammed Habib Tijani, Former Yendi DCE, Iddrisu Iddi, 76, Alhaji Baba Iddrisu Abdulai, 54, Kwame Alhassan, 53, and Mohammadu Abdulai, 57. The others: are Saibu Mohammed, 34, Alhassan Mohammed Briamah, 40, Alhassan Ibrahim, Mohammed Mustapha and Sani Moro. The rest are: Baaba Ibrahim, Yakubu Usifu, Ahmed Abukari, Abdul Razak Usifu and Alhassan Braimah. Zakaria Forest, the man alleged to have cut-off the head and hands of the Ya- Na, is at large.

The prosecution's case is that in March 2002, the Ya-Na and some of his elders were killed following a clash between the two royal gates in Dagbon - the Abudus and Andanis.

After the clash, Idrissu Gyamfo and Yidana Sugri were arrested and prosecuted for the alleged murder, but they were acquitted and discharged. The Government in a fresh attempt to find the murderers conducted a dawn swoop at Yendi during which 41 persons were rounded up. After screening them at Bimbilla, 33 were granted self-recognisance bail, while the rest were brought to Accra. Some of them were subsequently arrested and arraigned.