Man alleged to have assaulted girlfriend to death files for bail application

Philip Caesar Kumah, alleged to have beaten his girlfriend to death, and remanded into police custody, has filed for bail application at a High Court in Ho after appearing before a Ho District Court.

Mr Raymond Akpatsa, the Counsel for the accused, said they filed the bail application because they believed the High court, which was a superior court of judicature, was clothed with all the requisite jurisdiction to admit the accused person to bail.

He said their affidavit of motion of grant for bail had not been opposed to by the Attorney General (AG).

Mr Akpatsa said though the AG filed a response to their bail application, the response only prayed for stringent bail conditions that would necessitate the accused's appearance, whenever he was supposed to go to court.

The High Court deferred the ruling on the bail application to April 12, 2021.

Counsel, however, said should the High Court dismiss the application, the next option would be to go to the Court of Appeal.

Meanwhile, the accused has again been remanded into police custody when he made his second appearance before a Ho District Court.

The Presiding Judge, Mr Robert Addo, adjourned the case to April 7, this year, to enable the prosecution to complete the investigations and effect the necessary corrections on the charge and fact sheets. Counsel for the accused said the Judge's directive to prosecution to do the necessary amendment to the charge and fact sheets was right.

He said the accused was charged for murder, however, “the charge sheet did not establish the key element of murder, it grossly stated that it caused the death of the victim but all those ingredients were missing in the fact, the fact is very scanty.”

He said the brief fact accompanying the charge sheet also stated that the police were continuing with the investigation and it was on that ground that they asked the court to remand the accused.

The District Court was also of the view that as the case was already before the High court and bail application was pending, it would rather wait for the High Court’s ruling before knowing the next step to take, Counsel said.