Trial judge in cocaine-turned-baking soda case was wrong - Committee
The Chairperson of the committee set up by Chief Justice Georgina Wood to probe the cocaine-turned-baking soda saga says the trial judge erred in citing the Supreme Court case, Justice Smith v. KLM Dutch Airline, to back his order for a retesting of the substance.
Justice Agnes Dodzi said Mr Eric Kyei-Baffour’s citation of the Supreme Court in the matter was wrong and asked why the state attorney at the centre of the case did not raise objections.
Justice Dodzi made this comments on the second day of the committee's sitting on Friday when the state attorney, Stella Arhin, faced the committee to answer questions about her role in the trial.
Stella Arhin told the four-member committee that the judge, Eric Kyei-Baffour, insulted her when she objected to a second testing of cocaine exhibits and accused the trial judge of highhandedness.
During cross examination at the committee hearing, attorneys of the court clerk were curious about why the state attorney failed to demand that the exhibit be destroyed after it was tendered in as evidence. Her reason was; she forgot to inform the court.
The clerk's attorneys further asked whether she challenged the opening of the envelope that contained the evidence for ascertainment. According to Joy News Editor Samson Laadi Ayenini, Stella Arhin said she did not dispute it because it was a normal practice.
Attorneys of the clerk are said to have further impugned malice to the failure of the state prosecutor to remind the court to destroy the cocaine, alleging that this could be because there was a plan to swap the real cocaine with the baking soda.
They questioned the decision by the prosecutor to hear the analyst, who tested the evidence the second time at the Standards Board, in chambers instead of in open court.
One of the attorneys of the clerk, Capt. (rtd) Nkrabea Effah-Datteh, however indicated that their only intention during the hearing was to help the committee get to the bottom of the scandal.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
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