Court sets robber free after 65 adjournments
The Accra Circuit Court has acquitted and discharged an alleged robber for want of prosecution after the case had suffered 65 adjournments.
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The accused person, Nii Ade, was arrested on May 8, 2012 and had been in custody since his arrest without trial.
Since his arrest, the presiding judge, Mr Francis Obiri, said, the accused person had been produced in court on only eight occasions, noting that the investigator could not give any tangible reason for failing to produce the accused in court.
He cited Article 19 (3) of the 1992 Constitution and said it enjoined an accused person to be present during trial unless the accused himself decided not to appear in court after being notified of the adjourned date or behaved in such a way that it became practically impossible to conduct the case in his presence.
Mr Obiri said in this case the absence of the accused person was not his fault but that of the prosecution.
The prosecutor also informed the court that the prosecution could not trace its witness to testify in court.
Mr Obiri said he would not entertain the practice of prosecutors unduly delaying cases in his court.
He said that practice affected the justice system negatively and, consequently struck out the case for want of prosecution.
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Facts of case
The complainant was a trader, while the accused person was a mason, both resided in the same area at Kaneshie.
About 5.30 a.m. on March 30, 2012, the complainant was allegedly attacked by the accused person and two others, now on the run, around the Kaneshie-Takoradi Station.
The attackers forcibly collected the complainant’s purse containing her voter’s identity card, National Health Insurance card and GH¢200 and bolted.
A report was made to the police and on May 8, 2012 Ade was arrested at his hideout upon a tip off.
During investigations, Ade admitted the offence and told the police that he had conspired with a friend named Kofi and another whose name he did not know, to rob the complainant.
Ade led the police to a house near the Kaneshie No.1 Methodist Primary and Junior High School where he had hidden the purse which contained the items in a toilet.
That was after he had shared the money which was in the purse with his accomplices.
The purse was recovered with its other contents intact apart from the money and the complainant identified it as hers.