Judge throws out case after 50 adjournments

An Accra Circuit Court last Wednesday struck out a robbery case which had been adjourned 50 times.

The trial judge, Justice Obiri, who appeared fed up with the excuses from the prosecution indicated that both the investigator and the complainants who claimed they had been robbed have stopped coming to court.

He said under the circumstances, he had no other option than to free the accused as it appeared the com­plainants had no interest perusing the case.

Sadat Anul Musah, aka Under, and one Nasiru Mohammed Tanko, aka TK, both unemployed were standing trial for allegedly robbing the com­plainants of one Dell computer lap top valued at Gh? 1,200, five mobile phones valued at Gh?650 and a cash sum of Gh?300, all totalling Gh? 2,150.

At the initial stages of the trial, the prosecutor had told the court that the complaints, Benjamin Nii Boi Tagoe, Eddy Kwadwo Mensah, Emmanuel Kwasivi Tsadi, Michael Appiah and Nana Osei Asibey Bonsu are residents of Dansoman whilst the accused per­sons are unemployed and have no fixed place of abode.

According to prosecution, at about 10:00pm on August 31, 2012, the com­plaints were browsing the internet at Allied Media Services Cafe at Tunga, a suburb of Dansoman when the accused persons entered the place with a Coca Cola bottle.

The prosecutor said Sadat then broke the bottle, pointed it at the com­plaints and ordered all of them to move to the corner of the cafe or else be butchered with a broken bottle.

The police officer said the com­plaints sensing danger retreated into a corner as ordered by Sadat, adding that he (Sadat) then collected all their five mobile phones and one Dell com­puter laptop from them and also broke into a drawer where their daily sales are kept and took away Gh? 300 from it and gave them to Nasiru, and all took to their heels.

The prosecution further added that the complainants gathered courage and raised an alarm for help and Sadat was arrested with the help of some Good Samaritans while Nasiru managed to escape with their items.

The prosecution said Sadat led the police to the hideout of Nasiru at Adabraka where he was arrested and a when a search was conducted on him, one of the complainants' mobiles phones was found on him