The police who were present at the court hearing
Correspondence from Upper West
"Today was a busy day. The Court decided it was not proper to expose the victims to society whilst we're trying the matter while using them as our witnesses. It's so important and the law mandates us to protect their identity to try and see to rehabilitate them. So we're taking steps that are necessary to secure the witnesses," the Principal State Attorney in the Upper West Region, Saeed Abdul-Shakur has said.
According to the Principal State Attorney, the witnesses gave good accounts of themselves and in their accounts, the suspect was equally allowed to carry out cross-examination of the victims.
He furthered that: "The witnesses were quite graphic and you wouldn't know they were children and they told the story in a very, consistent, coherent manner. Three of the ladies (children) - 12, 12, and 13 years. We put them and all of them testified and they were all cross-examined. That's how it ended today and so tomorrow, we'll continue with other witnesses and also bring the medical doctors. We have done with all the 9 Counts today."
It would be recalled that on, August 15, 2023, GhanaWeb carried a Circuit Court report of an alleged defilement story of 12 young girls in Wa Municipal by suspect Abdul-Rashid Ahmed popularly known as MC Anaata.
As announced during the adjournment on Monday, three of the witnesses appeared in court on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, to testify against the suspect albeit in camera to protect their identities due to their ages.
The Prosecutor disclosed that when the accused came face-to-face with the victims, he turned quite sober as his usual confidence in court had gone off the mark.
"He had the opportunity to cross-examine them all right. When he was faced with the accusers, he was quite sober. He had to be reminded several times to raise his head to look at what was happening. He was not having the same confidence that he always had in court," the Prosecutor disclosed.
According to him, two additional victims will on Wednesday, August 16, be in court to testify against the accused person. He however indicated the Court may consider four of them if there is enough time to do so instead of only two.
The Principal State Prosecutor stated that but for the possible difficulty in getting some of the medical doctors to testify, he hinted the Court is in the position to use a period of two weeks to finish up with the process.
Asked why the accused was still without legal representation, the Prosecutor said: "He doesn't have legal representation but he is not a man without means. He can easily afford the services of a lawyer. So, the Court allowed the relatives into the Court and even told them that they should get the services of a lawyer. He is not the type of those that the state is mandated to get a lawyer for because the person himself has the means to get a lawyer out there. But with a lawyer or without a lawyer, we're proceeding with the matter."
He furthered that their focus now is on the testimony of the children to allow all the girls to finish testifying before engaging the technical people since as tender as they are, there is the likelihood of them easily being forgetful about some of the issues.
Security detail at the venue was beefed up to ward off any potential confusion.
