BNI asked to allow access to alleged pirates
The Adjabeng Magistrate’s Court yesterday ordered the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to grant counsel for the eight alleged Nigerian pirates access to them.
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The court ordered the BNI to ensure that counsel had access to his clients two hours between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday every week until the police concluded their investigations.
It, however, turned down counsel’s request to have a three-hour meeting on the court premises immediately with his clients after the court sitting yesterday.
On February 11, 2015, the court described as unacceptable and upsetting the situation where the BNI had denied the pirates access to their counsel and relatives.
Contempt remedy
The court advised the counsel, Mr Uche Nwosu, that if the BNI failed to facilitate his access to his clients “you know the legal remedies for contempt”.
“I do not think that the BNI will flout the court’s order and if they do, counsel you know the legal remedies for contempt,” the court said, and adjourned the case to March 5, 2015.
The court, presided over by Ms Efua Gyetowah Sackey, took the decision after the pirates’ counsel had informed it that he had only been able to set eyes on his clients twice in court since their incarceration on January 27, 2015.
Counsel told the court that the police had flouted its order to ensure that he was given access to his clients, who were currently in BNI custody.
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Mr Nwosu also stated that the police had failed to comply with its order to make copies of the charge sheet available to him.
Charge
The eight pirates, who have been charged with two counts of conspiracy and piracy, are Molih Williams, Molih Klinsman, Peggy Aki, Ebiyaibo Amos, David Jacobs, Apetimiyi Onyinie, Piano Saniyo and Picolo John.
Their pleas have not been taken.
Poor physical condition
The court had also learnt from the suspects that the police had denied them access both to their counsel and their relatives since they were arrested and arraigned before the court.
The pirates were taken to court barefooted; they walked on the partly soggy court grounds, following a downpour on Wednesday.
They told the court that though the police fed them thrice a day, they had been denied access to their relatives.
Their assertions were supported by their counsel who told the court that “these are challenges that the court must put its foot down to ensure that the rights of my clients are not trampled upon.”
Mr Nwosu also drew the court’s attention to the poor physical conditions in which the pirates were taken to the court.
“If they had access to their counsel and relatives, basic provision like clothing would have been provided them but as things stand, they are being treated anyhow,” he said.
He, therefore, prayed the court to allow him a three-hour interaction with the pirates on the court premises immediately after sitting, explaining that “this meeting would also enable my clients to call their relatives to know where they are”.
Opposition
However, the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Iddrissu Fusein, opposed the application of the counsel on the grounds that “the courtroom is not the appropriate place for a counsel to have access to his clients.
He informed the court that the counsel must make time and fulfil the procedures and processes required to meet his clients.
Background
The eight Nigerian pirates were arrested in the territorial waters of Ghana for allegedly hijacking a commercial oil tanker in Nigeria on January 17, 2015.
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They were put before the Accra Magistrate’s Court, which remanded them in police custody on January 23, 2015.
The eight men, armed with three AK 47 rifles, one pump action gun and a K2 rifle, attacked the Nigerian-flagged vessel, the MT Mariam, loaded with 1,500 metric tonnes of low petroleum fuel oil, estimated at US$1.5 million on January 17, 2015.
They took the nine-member crew hostage and offloaded the cargo onto another vessel.
Their operation was foiled when they were arrested by the Ghana Navy personnel who responded to a distress call.
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