Lawyer of the embattled Delta Force members, who were standing trial for storming a Kumasi court and freeing some of their members in lawful custody, has said that he was surprised by the AG’s decision to drop charges again his clients.
He said he was nonetheless excited they were freed since it confirmed his long-held view that they were innocent.
[contextly_sidebar id=”EML6Y5dJh6tcZuPXHBILYmytpCYr1kSx”]The 8 members of the pro-NPP vigilante group were standing trial for forcibly freeing some of their members who were facing charges of conspiracy to assault at the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council and assaulting the Regional Security Coordinator from lawful custody in April this year.
But at the hearing of the case on Wednesday, the principal State Attorney in a rather shocking statement said they did not have sufficient evidence to prosecute the accused persons.
This is despite the fact that the court raid occurred in broad daylight in the presence of many, including security officers at the court. A video footage also emerged with more details as to what happened and who
A video footage also emerged with more details as to what happened, but according to the Attorney, the evidence was not enough hence the decision to drop charges.
The court, presided over by Her Honour, Patricia Amponsah was forced to discharge the accused persons and dismissed the case on that ground.
Lawyer Matthew Appiah in an interview with Citi News said, they were not expecting the decision by the state attorney. “As we have already indicated, there was no evidence to show that the accused persons were the people who forcibly entered the courtroom on that fateful day… the docket was sent to the AG’s department and they studied it so that is their conclusion,” he said. – See more
“As we have already indicated, there was no evidence to show that the accused persons were the people who forcibly entered the courtroom on that fateful day… We thought that the Police had come with their evidence. We didn’t know the evidence they had but the docket was sent to the AG’s department and they studied it so that is their conclusion…We were not expecting it, we were just informed about it by the Police this morning [Wednesday],” he said.
State attorney didn’t consult AG before dropping charges
Meanwhile, government has denied that it sanctioned a decision to the drop charges against the freed Delta Force members.
The Ministry of Information in a statement copied to citifmonline.com said that the Principal State Attorney in the case did not consult the Attorney General before dropping the charges against the accused.
It further hinted that it was further investigating the matter and will take the necessary actions to remedy the situation.
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana