Judge throws out case after 79 adjournments

An Accra circuit court yesterday struck out a case involving four persons standing trial for an alleged robbery after 79 adjournments.

The accused persons are Emmanuel Gbetor, driver; Freeman Fancy, businessman; Richmond Azeinge, electrician and Dominic Senyo, student.

The first three are each facing a three-count charge of conspiracy, causing unlawful harm and robbery while Senyo was slapped with the charge of dishonestly receiving.

According to the prosecution, Gbetor, Fancy and Azeinge on 15 December 2011 at C/L Five Supermarket at Community 18, Lashibi near Accra, harmed one Collins Hodey.

It also said that the trio at the same place and date robbed one Linda Ayertey of her Toyota Highlander with registration number GW 9838-Z valued at GH¢35,000.

In the case of Senyo, the prosecution said he on December 15, 2011 dishonestly received the said Toyota Highlander that its owner was robbed of.

At the hearing yesterday in the court presided over by Francis Obiri, neither the investigator, Philip Kwaku Perdison, the complainant nor State Attorneys were in court to commence the trial.

According to the trial judge, the last time the prosecution appeared in the case was in June 2013, adding that the court had on December 12, 2014 made an order that the case should be assigned to a prosecutor for the trial to begin on December 22.

Mr. Obiri stated that since December 12, 2014, the case had suffered nine adjournments, stressing that the state has no interest in prosecuting the case before the court.

The trial judge accordingly struck out the case for want of prosecution.

At the initial stage of the trial, prosecution had told the court that Ayertey is the executive director of Resolve Ghana Limited and that on the said day Gbetor, Fancy and Azeinge were arrested by the policemen on night patrol duties within the Ho municipality when they had returned from one of their usual robbery expeditions at Community 18, Lashibi.

It said during investigations, the accused persons confessed to the snatching of Ayertey’s vehicle among other several car snatching robberies they had committed within Tema, Lashibi, Community18, GREDA Estates and its environs.

Prosecution said further investigations disclosed that on December 12, 2011 at about 9pm, Ayertey went shopping at the aforementioned supermarket and as she was about to drive back, one of the accused persons knocked at the window of the Toyota Highlander, trying to draw her attention to her back tyre.

It stated that when Ayertey came out to inspect the tyre, the accused persons attacked her and snatched the ignition key from her.

Prosecution indicated that Collins, the shop owner who came out to assist Ayertey, was stabbed by the accused and sped off with the vehicle.

It said the accused persons upon their arrests, admitted the offence in their caution statement and mentioned Senyo as their accomplice, leading to his arrest.

Prosecution indicated that in his caution statement, Senyo said he had received seven different vehicles from his accomplices, including Ayertey’s Toyota Highlander which he sold to his regular buyer, one Yovu in Togo, for Ghc7,000 and received Ghc3,500 as part payment out of which he received Ghc500 as commission .