Mzbel, two others granted bail

Accra, June 8, GNA - The Human Rights Court (Fast Track Division) on Wednesday admitted to bail Nana Ekua Amoah, aka Mzbel, a musician, and two others who allegedly assaulted and obstructed a police officer from executing his duty.

They were each granted bail in the sum of GH¢2,000 with a surety. This was after one of their counsel, Mr Anthony Namoo, had put in a bail application before the Human Rights Court. The Human Rights Court presided over by Mr Justice U.P. Dery in its ruling noted that the refusal of the lower court to grant the accused persons bail was an unlawful exercise of the court's judicial discretion. It entreated the lower court not to use bail as a form of punishment. On June 6, the Motor Court in Accra remanded into police custody Mzbel= , Maxwell Mensah, a driver and Emmanuel Edem Nordzor, a student. They have denied the charges and they would re-appear at the lower court on June 10.

Mzbel is being held for assaulting a police officer and obstructing hi= m from executing his lawful duty.

Mensah is charged with unauthorised parking, causing road obstruction, resisting lawful arrest and assaulting a police officer. Nordzor is charged with driving without a driving licence and obstructing a police officer from executing his duty. The three lawyers who represented the accused persons prayed the court to admit their clients to bail since they were ready to attend court all th= e time. They said their clients had fixed places of abode and would not abscon= d from the court's jurisdiction. They were also ready to assist the police in their investigations.

The prosecutor, Police Chief Inspector Dora Seiwaa, had told the lower court presided over by Mr Emmanuel Plange-Rhule that at about 1230 hours on June 4, the three accused persons were driving in a Mitsubishi 4x4 vehicle with registration number GR 9470-11 on the Kinbu Road. Chief Inspector Seiwaa said Mensah parked the vehicle on the shoulder of the road at Tudu while Nordzor and Mzbel sat in the vehicle. She said the act of Mensah impeded the flow of traffic and the Policeman on duty traced the source of the blockade to the vehicle being driven by Mensah. They found Nordzor sitting behind the steering wheel with the engine running.

The prosecutor said when Nordzor was quizzed by the Policeman why he parked the vehicle at that spot he replied that he was waiting for his friend. The Policeman therefore asked Nordzor to move the vehicle to give way to other road users. However, the manner in which Nordzor drove the vehicle gave him cause t= o suspect that Nordzor did not have a driving licence. The policeman therefor= e demanded his driving licence but he could not produce. The prosecutor said during the interrogation, Mensah emerged and asked the Policeman to 93clear off" because he (Mensah) was the driver and wou= ld move the vehicle.

She said Mensah reversed the vehicle towards the Policeman hitting his legs as a result of which he fell on the bonnet. Chief Inspector Seiwaa said Mensah failed to stop despite shouts by bystanders and in his bid to throw the Policeman off drove in a zigzag manner. She said a bullion van, which was trailing the accused persons, overtook them and crossed them at a spot near the Kinbu School where Mensah and Nordzor were overpowered and arrested. The prosecutor said Mzbel who claimed ownership of the vehicle did not understand why her friends were being arrested and prevented their arrest. She said in the process, Mzbel held the uniform and neck of Albert Drakpor, a policeman, and he had to be rescued by his colleagues. The prosecutor said with the timely intervention of two armed police officers, the accused persons were taken away.