Private legal practitioner, Egbert Faibille Jnr, is questioning how persons accused of murdering the military captain, Maxwell Adam Mahama, are being handled by prosecutors; raising fears it could compromise prosecution.
Mr Faibille argued transporting the accused persons together in one vehicle to and from the court, put them in a good position “to bond and construct their respective and joint defences to weaken the prosecution’s case. “When I see the accused persons in the Captain Mahama trial brought to and from the court in the same vehicle, I cringe,” he said in a Facebook post.
For him, at this early stage where investigations are still ongoing, it is critical that investigators separate them until enough evidence is gathered for their committal. A total of 41 residents arrested in connection with the murder of Captain Mahama on May 29, 2017, have so far been remanded in police custody pending further investigations into the gruesome murder.
Seven persons who were first arrested, including the assemblyman said to be the mastermind of the lynching and subsequent burning of Captain Mahama, were arraigned on provisional charges of murder on Thursday, June 1 by the District Court in Cape Coast.
Thirty-four others arrested across the country in their attempt to escape justice were on Monday, June 5 arraigned on murder charges at the District Court in Accra.
In each of the two cases, the accused persons were transported to and from the courtrooms in one vehicle, something Mr. Faibille contended was not the best at this crucial stage of evidence gathering by the investigators.
“For Christ’s sake, separate them until all formal statements have been taken from them and investigations completed,” he advised. It is unclear whether the accused persons are currently being held together or are in separate police cells without the opportunity to communicate with each other.
Captain Mahama, a member of the 5th Infantry of the Ghana Armed Forces, was jogging at Denkyira-Obuasi at about 8:30 am on May 29 when he was lynched and a part of his body set ablaze, the Military High Command confirmed in a statement issued last Tuesday.
His body was filled with marks of assault including multiple deep cut wounds on the head and a partially burnt body, the Police have said. A swoop in the town Tuesday, May 30 by a team of Police and military personnel led to the rounding up of a total of 166 people made up of 80 women and 86 men.
They screened after which five of them were arrested. Two others, including the assembly member, later turned themselves into the Police Wednesday evening.
Some other suspects who attempted to flee the town have since been arrested across the country and according to the Police, more suspects are being sought after to stand trial in the case.
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