Mrs. Afia Owusuaa Appiah, presiding judge of an Accra Circuit Court hearing the complaint of stealing filed by the police on behalf of the former Minister of State, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, against her former domestic workers, says she (judge) would not bow to public pressure to treat the instant case differently from the others before her.
She made the statement yesterday in response to an oral application by a counsel in the case, Raymond Feli, holding brief for Yaw Danquah, that the prosecution of the case should be expedited, but the prosecution kept asking for adjournments.
According to counsel Feli, public interest in the case was very high, but the judge immediately interjected and told him that she would not succumb to public pressure, and that the case shall be handled professionally.
“Let us leave public sentiment out of this matter,” she told the counsel and argued that the allegations that had been levelled against the accused person were serious.
Her Honour Afia Owusuaa also took cognisance of the fact that Patience Botwe, one of the accused persons, had been in custody since July 6, and for the past few months, but the prosecution had been telling the court that the investigation was still ongoing.
The court ordered the Registrar of the Family and Juvenile Court to furnish it with records of proceedings in respect of the first accused (A1), Patience Botwe, who has applied for bail.
A1 had stated in her application that she had been granted bail by the Family and Juvenile Court and the prosecution did not deny this assertion.
The court also granted Malik Dauda, another accused person, bail in the sum of GH¢100,000.00 with two sureties to be justified.
Mrs. Appiah has, so far, granted Sarah Agyei, Christiana Achab, Job Pomary and Malik Dauda bail in various sums.
Sarah (A2) and Christiana were given GH¢1 million each, and Job (A6), GH¢300,000, with sureties to be justified. However, none of the accused persons had so far been able to execute the bail. As a result, their counsel filed application for bail variation.
Augustine Gyamfi, counsel for A2, told the court that the accused persons have not been able to execute the bail, not because they had not made any effort, but the difficulty placed on the interpretation of the bail by the Registrar.
The court, however, told counsel that if he had any challenge with the bail, he should put it before it.
The court also expressed concerns over individuals listed to stand surety for some of the accused persons in their application.
The court somehow doubted whether petty traders and peasant farmers listed in the bail application would be able to pay the money involved in the unlikely event the accused persons abscond after the granting of the bail.
In that regard, the judge ordered the defence counsel to provide detailed particulars of the sureties, so that when the least expected happened, she would not have to deal with the case by herself.
Other accused persons not on bail are Patience, her boyfriend Benjamin Sowah (A2), Yahaya Suleiman (A7). The eighth accused, Franklin Sarakpo, is at large.
Offences and Pleas
The accused persons have pleaded not guilty to the charges, namely, conspiracy to commit a crime, stealing and dishonestly receiving, preferred against them.
Patience (hairdresser) and Sarah (unemployed) are facing one count of conspiracy to commit a crime, six counts of stealing US$800,000.00 and US$200,000.00 and €300,000.00 – all properties of the former minister.
Benjamin Sowa (Plumber) is charged with dishonestly receiving GH¢180,000.00 from his girlfriend Patience, although the money is a property of Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
Malik Dauda (unemployed) also dishonestly received GH¢100,000.00 from Sarah through Patience, his ex-girlfriend and another GH¢5,000.00 from the same.
Wife and husband, Christina (trader) and Job (mechanic) dishonestly received GH¢30,000.00 while Christiana, again with Yahaya, dishonestly received GH¢850,000.00.
Monies and other properties allegedly stolen from the former minister were used to purchase houses and cars running into millions of Ghana cedis.
The police has retrieved some of these properties, particularly from Madam Cecilia Dapaah’s house helps, Patient and Sarah.
These include cash of US$40,000.00 and GH¢72,619.70 and landed properties such as GH¢800,000.00 compound house made up of 11 single-room apartments at Budumburam, GH¢300,000.00 3-bedroom house at Aplaku, GH¢280,000.00 3-bedroom house at Kokrobite and GH¢850,000.00 3-bedroom house at Amrahia.