Justice Mary Maame Ekua Yanzuh, of the Criminal Court division of the High Court in Accra, has dismissed an application by James Gyayke Quayson, Member of Parliament for Assin North in the Central region, for a review of an order, it made on November 3, 2023 about proceedings of July 2023, which the court had said could not be retrieved due to technical difficulties. In the Court’s view, records of proceedings getting lost or mixed up with others are a common occurrence not only in Ghanaian Courts.
Hearing of the criminal case against the Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, resumed on Wednesday February 7, 2023. Per the submission of Tsatsu Tishkata, events leading to the application by his client are that, they had requested for proceedings of July 19, 2023. However, the Court, in its ruling on November 3, 2023, explained that, the said proceedings, were mixed up with proceedings from the previous day’s hearing, due to technical difficulties. The court then went on to offer the accused person and his legal team, an opportunity, to re- examine the first prosecution witness, to amend the affected proceedings. In his narration, Mr. Tsikata said the November 3, orders, were made without any representation on behalf of Mr. Gyakye Quayson, and that was because, they were not notified of the hearing for that day. According to him, nobody served them with the court’s decision either, although, the Court, said it had instructed its registry to serve same on them. Mr Tiskata submitted that, the court’s order in addressing the issue of the record of proceedings, was not in the interest of a fair trial as the accused person is entitled to constitutionally, nor was it in the interest of justice. He argued that the evidence of that day was important to the defense of the accused person, and it was unjust for that evidence to be simply regarded as lost. Tsatsu Tsikata, told the court, that the appropriate call was for the Court to enable a different approach to be pursued to obtain accurate records from the proceedings of July 19,2023. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, counteracting the application , said the request by the Applicant for the Court to review its decision on the absence of the proceedings of Nov 19, 2023, was moot. She said, an explanation was provided on the issue and so there was no justification for seeking a further explanation of the orders of the court made on 3 Nov 2023. She added that, although the accused person was not in Court on the day of the decision, the Court on 9 Nov 2023, which was the next hearing, explained everything to him and his legal team, and on that basis, Mr. Tiskata, further cross-examined the first prosecution witness. Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, after listening to the arguments forwarded by the parties, dismissed the application on the basis that, Tsatsu Tiskata, did not raise any objections when the issue of the mixup came up and chose to re-examine the witness. The third prosecution witness, Louis Obeng, Ghana’s High Commissioner to India, is scheduled to testify as the third prosecution on February 16, 2023.
