No verdict on Daasebre's case retrail next year

After three intensive days of trial of the Ghanaian music star, Daasebre Dwamena, for allegedly smuggling cocaine into the UK, the case was declared a miss-trial to make way for a re-trial on the 12th of March next year.

This follows the inability of the 12-member jury to arrive at a verdict on a number of occasions.

A completely new jury would be set up for the second trial. Should they also fail to arrive at a verdict, as occurred during the first trail, the case will be cancelled for the defendant to be freed. According to the British law, an individual cannot be trial more than twice on the same offence.

When the all-white jury sat on Wednesday they still were unable to arrive at a verdict. The court then ordered them to retire and come again with a unanimous decision.

At a time all indications pointed to Daasebre’s discharge, it came as a surprise to the large number of the Ghanaians who had gathered at the court to welcome him, that the jury again could not give a verdict which left crown court judge, Hon MacGregor-Johnson with no other option than to order them to retire for the last time and come with a 10-2 decision for or against the defendant.

When they later sat in court, for the last time, the leader of the jury announced that they still could not get the 10-2 decision. They were therefore dismissed by the court after which the judge asked prosecution and the defence lawyers to set a date under compromise for the retrial.

Later in an interview with the defence lawyer, Mr. Joe Stone, he disclosed that Daasebre instructed him not to request for bail on his behalf even though the situation was very favourable for his bail. This was the second time the musician had objected to prospects for his bail since his arrest in June this year.

According to him, his client stands a very fair chance of being acquitted and charged of the charges against him.

The court is looking essentially at whether or not the Ghanaian international musician knowingly imported the drug into the UK.

The Ghanaian musician Daasebre Dwamena is standing trail in the UK, for knowingly importing drugs into the UK. He had earlier told the Isleworth Crown court that nothing could persuade him to deal in drugs.

Opening his defence, he noted, that he knew a lot of people whose lives have been ruined by the use of drugs. ‘I know God will question all people who make dishonest money. You make money and enjoy with human beings why would I want to destroy the lives of human beings with drugs? The 34-year-old music star enquired.

Led in evidence by his Joe Stone, a barrister, Daasebre Dwamena maintained as stated in his interview with the security agency at the time of his arrest, that one of his promotional managers, Yaw Donaldson provided the suitcases in which the drugs were found.

He said he had instructed him, as he often does, to purchase him a suitcase and a ticket for the trip to the UK to arrange for a studio to record his new album.

He explained that Donaldson brought him the ticket and two suitcases and told him he (Donaldson) had made an arrangement in London for some one to meet him at the airport.

Daasebre said he received two suitcases instead of the one he requested from Donaldson at 8.00 pm while his flight was at 10.30pm. He continued that Donaldson asked him to give one of the bags which contained foodstuff to the person he had arranged to meet him. (Daasebre)

According to Dwamena, tried as he did, he could not get in touch with Donaldson to get the contact of that individual.

‘When I then arrived in London the next morning, I was so surprised to be told that they suspected me of carrying drugs.’ He told the court.

‘I was confused and I thought of my family, my fans and the big people like the ministers who engage me to play for them. How would they take this message back home and abroad?’ Daasebre said.

He maintained that the trip was genuinely for finding a good recording studio and also to arrange for sponsorship.

He told the court that he is a very successful, renowned and internationally acclaimed musician who would not want to damage his hard-won reputation for anything.

He proved this to the court with the multiple awards he has won over the years. During the 95-munite cross examination, he observed that though he did not trust Donaldson, because he had been unfaithful and dishonest to him on many occasions, he however still preferred to use him for certain jobs because ‘I felt for him and also I believe the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know’.

Mr.Fred Nuamah who described himself as the overall manager of Daasebre was also in court to witness in the case.

He described Daasebre as anti-drug campaigner who is so much humble and not money conscious. ‘He likes music than money’ he noted.

The prosecution lawyer, Mr Martin Griffins in his submission said Daasebre had lied in his evidence to the court. According to him, Daasebre had told investigators that he was going to put up with Mr. Patrick Donkor the owner of a London based shop the Kumasi Market , but said in contradiction that he was going to be met by a business partner.

He emphasised that the trip was purely for dealings in drugs rather than arrangements for music production. He questioned why Daasebre did not make any initial arrangements before flying from Accra to London, adding that it the music business is just a cover-up.

He interrogated why the defendant in his defence said ‘I was thinking I was going to be disgraced’ arguing that if Daasebre did not know he was carrying cocaine, he wouldn’t have though of being disgraced.

Led in prosecution team from the Customs and Excise department, Mr Martin Griffins provided five prosecution witnesses including a London based Ghanaian music producer, Patrick Kwadwo Donkor, Chief Executive of Kumasi Market.

Mr Donkor had been mentioned by Daasebre to the Customs as the person he was going to put up with while in London.

Others included two Customs official, Teresa Conant who made the arrest and Raphael Galili ,the case officer. The rest were a forensic technician Ian McGuiness and a finger print expert.

The prosecution also tendered in huge load of exhibits which also included the two trolley suit cases Daasebre was alleged to have travelled with, pictures and photo copies of document like 2 Ghanaian passports belonging to the musician, UK bus passes used in April this year, and a boarding pass for Amsterdam – Accra. Others were the contents of the baggage such as some personal belongings.

An eighty-four-munite interview by the custom officials at the time of the arrest of Daasebre was the subject of presentation by the prosecution. The whole interview was ‘reconstructed’ by the prosecution team

In a very powerful submission, the defence barrister, Joe Stone, standing in for Lindsey, Solicitors argued that the concealment, of the drug and the retrieval mechanism against the background of the time Daasebre received the bag from Donaldson and the time he flew from Accra indicated that his client was framed up.

He argued that Donaldson is not a ghost, he actually exists in Ghana and worked for the musician. He provided pictures of Donaldson to buttress his point and stressed that ‘the reason he used Daasebre was that he (Daasebre) has a good travelling record.

He added that his client has never been stopped by the costumes before since 1998 when he started travelling abroad, ‘he is well respected and well-known, and why can’t such an illustrious man be used by a money conscious guy who on a number of occasions had duped the very person who has employed him.’ Mr. Jones insisted. According to him, none of the seven fingerprints detected on the two suitcases correspond with that of Daasebre. And the concealment of the drug was perfectly done that even trained customs officials were not able to detect. The drugs were detected after the two bags had been x-rayed.

Daasebre is charged “in relation to a class ‘A’ controlled drug namely 770 grammes of cocaine of 100 percent purity knowingly concealed in the fraudulent evasion of the importation of the goods contrary to section 3 of the misuse of drugs act of 1971.”

He was arrested at the Heathrow Airport in London on the 29th of June this year when he disembarked on a British Airways flight from Accra.

The musician who appeared in a brown jacket over a yellow shirt throughout the three-day trail looked calm in court, and was provided with an interpreter who interpreted in Ga for him. In some cases he looked cheerful as he was sporadically seen having a chat with his interpreter who was only used intermittently.