Late Major Mahama’s team were protecting Illegal miners - Defense

Mr George Bernard Shaw, a defense counsel in the trial involving the alleged murderers of Major Maxwell Mahama has purported that the team of Military Officers, deployed to the area were protecting illegal miners.

He claimed that the C and G Mining Company which the late Major Mahama was protecting had been asked in a letter from the Minerals Commission to halt its operation in the Juabo Forest.

Mr Shaw made the claims during the cross-examination of the first prosecution witness, Warrant Officer II, Sabi Kwasi.

“Last January, the Minerals Commission wrote to the Company to cease its operations,” he added.

He said residents of Denkyira Oboasi had a frosty relationship with the company due to concerns they had about the degradation of the forest.

WO Sabi in answering said he was unaware of why they had been deployed to the town to protect the company but added they carried out their duty professionally.

The witness denied the claim by Mr Shaw that the Military was deployed to the site because of the constant attacks on the company by the residents of Diaso.

The witness said he was also unaware of any directive from the Minerals Commission to the Company and was not aware of the company’s engagement in any illegal activity.

In a related development the Court has ordered Vodafone Ghana Limited to produce the phone call records of William Baah, one of the accused in the case.

The Court presided over by Mrs Mariama Owusu, specifically ordered for the phone calls transmissions of Baah on May 29 and 30, 2017.

The order follows an application made by Mr Shaw for access to the records which he says would enable his client to put up a strong defense.

The case has been adjourned to Tuesday June 5, for further cross-examination.

The fourteen accused are standing trial at the Court for the death of the Major Mahama, an Officer of the 5th Infantry Battalion at the Burma Camp who was on duty at Denkyira-Oboasi, when on May 29, he was lynched by some residents, who allegedly mistook him for an armed robber because he had a pistol in his back pocket.

The mob ignored his consistent plea that he was an officer of the Ghana Armed Forces.

The accused are William Baah, the Assemblyman of Denkyira Obuasi, Bernard Asamoah alias Daddy, Kofi Nyarko aka Abortion, Akwasi Baah, Kwame Tuffour, Joseph Appiah Kubi, Michael Anim and Bismarck Donkor.

Others are John Bosie, Akwasi Baah, Charles Kwaning, Emmanuel Badu, Bismarck Abanga and Kwadwo Anima.