SHIPPING MAGNATE'S SON REFUSED BAIL

HALEEM Banda, the 28-year-old man who was arrested for an alleged nightclub brawl has appeared before the Accra Fast Track High Court on four counts of threat of death and possession of arms and ammunition without authority.
The accused person who is a managing director of a company in Tema and said to be the son of Alhaji Asuma Banda, the shipping magnate, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He had been refused bail and the court, presided over by Mr Justice B.T. Aryeetey, a Court of Appeal judge with additional responsibility as a High Court judge said it was going to fast-track the trial.
Consequently, it took the evidence of three prosecution witnesses who were also crossed-examined by counsel for the accused person.
Narrating the facts of the case, Mrs Stella Badu, a Senior State Attorney said the first complainant, Kofi Okyere Darko (KOD), was a broadcaster while the second complainant, Kiki Banson, was a businessman.
She said on June 10, 2007 at about 1:30 a.m., the accused person stormed the Cinderella Nightclub in Cantonments and threatened, Kiki and KOD with death.
The suspect was said to have given KOD a heavy blow which sent him sprawling and threatened to kill him if he tried to get up.
Mrs Badu said the accused person on June 12, 2007 had in his possession four live pistol ammunition without authority while he also had in his possession a pump action gun with an expired licence.
In his evidence-in-chief, KOD said on June 10, 2007, he went to the Cinderella Nightclub in the company of Kiki and while there the accused person rained insults on Kiki, who ignored Haleem because there was a case pending at the court between the two.
He said Haleem threatened to kill Kiki and said that if Kiki was a man he should open his mouth.
According to him, he tried to intervene but the accused person asked him to shut, therefore, he and Kiki decided to go out to board their car.
He said the accused person followed them and when he tried again to explain things to him, Haleem hit the right side of his neck with a blow that sent him to the ground.
The witness said while he fell down Haleem fired three warning shots, and pointed a gun at his neck and head, threatening to kill him if he uttered a word.
“I heard his name for the first time when people around said that this Haleem boy is causing a lot of trouble in town. Asoma Banda’s son and so what”, KOD said.
He said after the incident the accused person almost knocked him with his car when he sped off the scene.
During cross-examination by Mr Agbesi Dzakpasu, counsel for the accused person, the witness admitted that he spoke to Joy FM, an Accra-based radio station about the incident.
He maintained that he heard the three gunshots which were fired by Haleem when he was falling down.
“I will kill you and if you like you can go and report to the police”, he quoted the accused person threatening him and explained that he heard the words well because the DJ at the nightclub had stopped playing music.
KOD disagreed with counsel that the threat to kill him was an after thought.
Another witness, Samuel Lamkwei, a bouncer at the nightclub, said he was at the main gate of the nightclub on the day of the incident when he heard three gunshots from the car park.
He said after that he saw people running all directions and not quite long, he saw Kiki doubling his steps to the enter the club and followed by Haleem.
According to him, when Haleem got to the gate he realised that he was wielding a gun and when he asked Haleem about the gun he was brushed aside but he followed him to the club and informed another bouncer about it.
He said he was leaving the scene to take his post when he overheard Haleem say “where is he, where is he?”.
Lamkwei said not quite after taking post, a police patrol team arrived and demanded to see Kiki so he went to inform one Sly, a bouncer who went to call Kiki.
He said that he did not know who Haleem referred to when he said “where is he, where is he?”, but he was aware that Kiki was inside the club although he did not know exactly where he was.
Sly Abugabi, another bouncer at the club told the court that on the day of the incident, he was inside the club when Kiki entered after which Lamkwei came to inform him that Haleem was wielding a gun.
He said Haleem shouted in English “ where is the bastard. I will kill him”, thus sending people running away.