Court sits in camera

KOJO's DIARY: Accra Beat
THE Accra Fast Track High Court hearing the case in which four police officers allegedly aided a suspect to abscond with 2,280 kilogrammes of cocaine yesterday sat in camera to take evidence from some prosecution witnesses.
Nobody knew who the witnesses were but it was believed that they could be some fishermen from Kpone alleged to have gone to the beach with the accused persons to effect the arrest of the owner of the narcotic drugs.
General Sergeant Daniel Nyarko, General Lance Corporal Dwamena Yabson, General Lance Corporal Peter Bondori and Detective Sergeant Samuel Yaw Amoah, who is on the run, are accused of collecting money from the owner of the cocaine, Sheriff Asem Dakeh, alias The Limping Man, and allowing him (Sheriff) to abscond with the narcotic drug.
The three have been charged with two counts of engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs and corruption by a public officer.
They have pleaded not guilty to both counts.
Before proceeding to sit in camera, the court, presided over by Mr Justice Annin Yeboah, an Appeal Court judge sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, upheld an application by the prosecution that the lives of the witnesses were in danger.
Ms Stella Badu, a Senior State Attorney, cited Article 19 (15) of the Constitution and prayed the court to take the evidence of the next set of witnesses in camera because their lives would be in danger if they gave evidence in public.
“They are being sought and their lives are in danger,” she told the court.
The defence counsel opposed the application on the grounds that the court was capable of protecting everybody and, therefore, the application was not justifiable.
Mr Dei Kwarteng, counsel for Yabson, said he did not know whether those seeking to interfere with the lives of the witnesses were the accused persons themselves or not.
He said he did not want to create the impression that those after the lives of the witness were policemen.
Mr Musah Ahmed, counsel for Nyarko, also said it was for the court to determine that the lives of the witnesses were in danger but not through a mere conjecture.
According to him, what the prosecution was trying to do was to allow the witnesses to come to court to tell lies, adding that if that was not the case then they should feel free to testify, since they had not been threatened because even police officers who were arrested together with the accused persons had testified in the case.