Committee hearing on cocaine saga reveals laxity in state institution
Today’s hearing by the Committee set up by Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood to unravel the mystery behind the transformation of cocaine exhibit into baking soda has revealed laxity on the part of state institutions.
On the second day of the public hearing, Chairperson of the committee, Justice Agnes Dodzi, blamed the trial judge for committing serious errors by citing the Supreme Court case, Justice Smith v. KLM Dutch Airline, to back his order for a retesting of the substance which turned out not to be cocaine.
The state attorney Stella Arhin appeared before the committee to state her role in the trial. She told the committee that the trial judge, EricKyei-Baffour disagreed with her when she raised an objection to the retesting of the cocaine. The state prosecutor admitted something went wrong administratively as the Attoney General was not served hearing notice before bail was granted to the accused.
The attorney for the trial judge, Robert Kinsley, was skeptical about the state attorney’s submission.
He said after the prosecution had put before the court its case, there was also the need for the defendant to challenge the claims made by the prosecution.
“The case of the accused will be presented when he is charged before court and that is why they challenged that what you arrested us with is not cocaine. And therefore the court as a referee has to find out if indeed it is cocaine. So the testing of the substance proving positive to cocaine by the police is not conclusive enough. The police could have falsified anything in an attempt to damage the image of the accused.”
The Court Clerk who handled the exhibit at the Circuit Court, Daniel Nytasidzi, also appeared before the committee. He told the committee that the exhibits were kept at the trial judge’s chambers in a stapled envelope.
He admitted that he has not been trained on how to handle exhibits and did not know the appropriate place where important exhibits involving narcotics are kept. The clerk told the committee that he believed the exhibit was well secured and could not have been tempered with.
The head of the narcotic unit of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Kofi Agyei, also made appearance for the second time and indicated that his unit did its best to ensure the safety of the exhibits.
By: Naadi Bitlegma, e.tv Ghana
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