Judge Indulges Criminals?

…CJ Petitioned Over Failing To Sit On Case For 8 Months!

Management of Joebawa Transport Services, a leading transporter for Olam Ghana Limited is suspicious and discontent with the sheer unwillingness of an Accra Circuit Court Judge to trial a case involving stolen goods worth GH¢ 150,000 by a crime syndicate.

Due to the judicial frustrations, the transport company petitioned her Lordship the Chief Justice to call the judge, Mrs. Ivy Heward-Mills to order, to commence trail on the case which implicates over eight suspects.

In addition, the Chief Justice was requested to transfer the case to a different judge to adjudicate on the matter.

The petition to the Chief Justice dated September 19, 2012, referred to SUIT NO. D2/487/2012 stated in portion that, “On July 25th 2012, I sent a petition to your high office concerning the way Her Honour Ivy Hewards-Mills was handling my case at Circuit Court 8. On 24th August, 2012, when I went to court, the judge invited all the parties to her chambers and started talking, insulting me for the petition which she said was against her. She immediately adjourned the case to 7th September, 2012. On the adjourned date the case was called. The judge again insulted me in the open court to wit: ‘Do you expect me to give you money to pay for your children school fees? She said she has every right to discharge the accused persons based on the evidence before her. She further stated that, it was my carelessness that brought me to court, and since she has already taken her decision based on the above reason. She has told us that if any of the nine accused persons or any of their counsels fail to come to court, she will adjourn the case.”

The alleged response from the judge was in reaction to an earlier petition to the Chief Justice by the complainant (Jonathan Bawa) that, “I have not been able to pay my kids school fees for the past two terms hence they have been sacked from school. My rent is expired; I took a loan from the bank but cannot pay. I am therefore in a very serious ordeal. My lord, with the greatest of appeal, I sorrowfully plead for your intervention in this matter. I have been denied justice because justice has been unfairly delayed.”

Jonathan Bawa, owner of Joebawa Transport Services granted interview to The New Crusading GUIDE to appeal publicly to the Chief Justice to intervene in the matter.

He recounted that in November 29, 2011, his company loaded one Thomas Yeboah (later found his real name as Jonathan Gidisu) with a cargo truck (AS 1826 H) of goods to be off-loaded at Kumasi, Tamale and Bolagathanga. Joebawa Transport Services, according to the owner, has been contracted by Olam Ghana Limited to transport imported perishable goods across Ghana.

He said one of his staff (Morro Issifu) was assigned to accompany the truck in order to protect the goods to its final destination, because the driver was not an employee of Joebawa Transport Services, but was given the load based on an urgent need for additional vehicles.

The driver, upon reaching Ejisu near Kumasi, indicated he was tired and had to pass the night in a nearby hotel, but Morro protested that they should reach Kumasi and discharge the first consignment to it owners before they retire for the next day.

The driver’s will prevailed and they slept in a hotel at Ejisu, but unknowing to the Morro Issifu, he found on the following morning that the driver had absconded with the goods at mid-night.

A report was quickly made to the police and FM stations in Kumasi, as well as in Accra without any success to trace the goods and the diver.

However, it was until painstaking investigations through a mobile unit card used by the absconded driver in the hotel which led to his eventual arrest, together with members of the syndicate including Ghanaian and Nigerian traders.

Jonathan Bawa told this paper that all the suspects have confessed to the crime upon police interrogation, while some of the consumable items have been retrieved, with remaining been sold out.

“The items involved in the case are mostly perishable goods which are locked up at the police station because of the delays tactics adopted by the judge. I am therefore pleading that the case be transferred from her Honour Ivy Heward- Mills and given to a new judge who will try the case to ensure fairness, since she (Mrs. Heward- Mills) has made her stance before proceeding with the case,” the petition to the Chief Justice underscored.

Meanwhile, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Peter Nsor, prosecutor of the case, told this reporter yesterday in an interview that the case was a criminal one which the Circuit Court must determine, while the Complainant would proceed on civil suit to retrieve his monies from the suspects.

When asked why the delay in prosecuting the case during the eight months, ASP Peter Nsor rejected claims that the case has never been called in court, but admitted that the trail is yet to commence.