ANOTHER UK EXPERT TESTIFIES IN COKEW TRIAL

A DIGITAL and magnetic recording consultant from the United Kingdom told the Accra Fast Track High Court that there were no signs to suggest that the compact disc (CD) containing the recorded conversation on the missing 77 parcels of cocaine which took place in ACP Kofi Boakye’s house had been edited or tampered with.
“There were no technical features to suggest it is edited,” Mr Philip Thomas Harrison, an independent forensic consultant with J. P. French and Associates, said, and added, however, that there could be possible reasons the conversation might be edited because of the abrupt stop and restart of the conversation.
He said an analysis of the CD revealed that 14 seconds from its beginning, the recording was stopped and restarted thereafter to record the whole conversation, saying that he did not know what happened during that break.
Mr Harrison was testifying as the 10th prosecution witness in the case in which Kwabena Amaning, alias Tagor, and Alhaji Issah Abass are being tried for their role in the missing cocaine.
Tagor is facing four counts of conspiracy, engaging in prohibited business related to narcotic drugs, buying of narcotic drugs and supplying narcotic drugs, while Alhaji Issah Abass faces two counts of conspiracy and supply of narcotic drugs.
They have pleaded not guilty to all the counts and have been refused bail by the court.
Kwabena Acheampong, Kwabena Amaning, Alhaji Issah Abass, Victor Kisseh, alias Yaw Billah, and Alhaji Moro Mohammed were earlier arraigned at the circuit court for allegedly dealing in narcotic drugs but the prosecution, on Wednesday, November 22, 2006, entered a nolle prosequi, resulting in their discharge.
However, fresh charges were preferred against Tagor and Abass, leading to their appearance at the Fast Track High Court.
According to Mr Harrison, he was responsible for the authenticity aspect of the recorded conversation and he was to determine whether it had been edited or tampered with.
He said the conversation was recorded with an analogue cassette recorder with a micro cassette and later transferred onto a CD. He added that it was unedited, although it was possible for experts to use modern equipment to edit conversations of such nature.
Explaining his findings that the conversation was not edited, the witness said there were no switching activities, while there was also continuity in the conversation.
“It was a natural conversation and not one which was staged because of the repetitions and interruptions in it,” he said.
During cross-examination by Nana Asante Bediatuo, one of the counsel for Tagor, the witness disagreed that the conversation captured a discussion on the last World Cup which was played in Germany.
When counsel suggested to him that the conversation could have been edited by an expert who removed all the discontinuities and breaks, Mr Harrison replied that natural speech was different from scripted speech or play acting in which someone directed proceedings.
“I find no signs to suggest that the CD was edited; however, there are possible reasons why the conversation might be edited because of an abrupt stop during the conversation. There were no technical features to suggest it is edited,” the witness emphasised.
When Mr Osafo Buabeng, lead counsel for Abass, suggested to the witness that the switching on and off of the recorder was from one of the participants in the conversation, Mr Harrison replied that he was not aware of that.
The witness said he did not find any evidence of erasure on the CD.
Earlier, Prof John Peter French, who is a voice expert, had concluded his evidence under cross-examination by Mohammed Atta, one of the counsel for Abass, and said the unidentified male voice could belong to any of those who participated in the conversation.
He said no name was attributed to that voice because of the overlap of speeches and statements which were not clear at certain stages of the conversation.
According to Prof French, the majority of recordings which he had worked on were either recorded by undercover agents or the police, but in the instant case he could not tell who did the recording.
“It is difficult to say whether any of the participants did the recording,” he stated, and disagreed with counsel that the CD had been edited because certain statements were incomplete.
He further disagreed with counsel that all the incomplete statements in the conversation were attributed to three persons, namely, ACP Boakye, Tagor and Abass, and explained that that happened because Acheampong and Alhaji Moro spoke very little.
Prof French said he did not come across the micro cassette which was used to record the conversation.
The next prosecution witness is Dr Kofi Agyekum of the University of Ghana who assisted the experts with the Twi linguistic aspects of the conversation.