Court worried over delay in handling J.B. Danquah-Adu’s case

An Accra District Court on Wednesday expressed deep frustration over the continued sluggish manner in which the Attorney General’s Department was handling the prosecution of two persons accused of murdering the former Member of Parliament of Abuakwa North, J. B. Danquah-Adu.

The court said the frequent failure of the prosecution to appear before the court with the docket on the case had slowed down the process for a committal trial to begin, causing injustice to the deceased’s family and the young accused persons.

“The continued absence of the prosecution is causing injustice to the deceased’s family, who have been waiting for justice, and the accused persons, who have been incarcerated for a long time at the Nsawam Prison.

Treat case with utmost urgency

“This delay is wasting the lives of the accused persons, the court’s time and state resources,” the court, presided over by Mrs Arietta Somoah, said, and warned the prosecution to “treat the case with utmost urgency”.

According to the court, if the trial of a prominent legislator could be dragged unduly by the prosecution, the trial of the ordinary person could be a more worrying one.

The court expressed these sentiments when the case was called on Wednesday but the absence of the state prosecution compelled the court to adjourn the trial to December 18, 2018.

When the case was called, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr George Amegah informed the court that the docket was still in the custody of the state prosecution.

Delayed prosecution

Daniel Asiedu and Vincent Bosso, the two men linked with the murder of Danquah-Adu, are yet to stand trial, two-and-a-half years after the murder.

The two suspects are also yet to be committed to stand trial, 15 months after the Attorney-General (A-G) had filed a nolle prosequi and withdrew the case from the Accra High Court on May 29, 2017.

The High Court had empanelled a jury and was about to take the plea of the two suspects for trial to commence when the A-G filed the nolle prosequi, with the explanation that there was the need for further investigations into the case.

Asiedu and Bosso were then dragged back to the district court for another committal proceeding which has stalled for the past 15 months.

Background

Danquah-Adu, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), was murdered in his residence in Accra on February 9, 2016.

The facts of the case, as presented by the prosecution, were that the former MP lived with his family in a one-storey house at Shiashie, near East Legon in Accra, while Asiedu and Bosso lived at Agbogbloshie, also in Accra.

About 11:40 p.m. on February 8, 2016, the MP was chauffeured home in his private car.

The driver handed over the ignition keys of the car to Danquah-Adu and left for home, after which the MP retired to bed in a room located on the first floor of his house.

About 1 a.m. that same night, Asiedu and Bosso, armed with a catapult, a cutter and a sharp knife, went to the legislator’s house.

Bosso is said to have assisted Asiedu to enter the house by scaling the wall on the blind side of a security man who was fast asleep. On entering the house, Asiedu picked a ladder and climbed onto a porch on the top floor and entered the MP’s bedroom through a window while Danquah-Adu was sleeping.

While Asiedu was searching the room, the MP woke up and held him. There ensued a struggle, during which Asiedu stabbed the MP in the right chest above the breast. The MP consequently held the knife and Asiedu pulled it through the former’s hand, leaving a deep cut in his palm.

The legislator bled profusely and fell by his bed, after which Asiedu stabbed him several times in his right chest and neck.

On realising that the MP was dying, Asiedu left the room and took with him three iPhones and absconded with his accomplice.