The 18-year-old Patience Botwe’s attorneys have officially requested bail at the Circuit Court in Accra on behalf of their client, who is suspected of being the mastermind behind the $1 million and 300,000 euro theft case at the home of the former minister for sanitation, Madam Cecilia Dapaah.
However, the Prosecution has contested the bail application, which was served on her attorneys this morning.
But, Nana Addo Asrifi, the main attorney representing Patience Botwe, sought for a brief recess so he could reply to the prosecution’s affidavit in opposition.
The Circuit Court, presided over by Her Honour Afia Owusuaa Appiah, denied the bail request made on behalf of Patience Botwe’s boyfriend Benjamin Sowah on Tuesday, September 5, 2023.
The court granted Yahaya Sumaila’s bail request; he is the seventh accused person and an excavator operator.
This came after the prosecution, which was being led by Assistant State Attorney Akosua Agyaponmaa Agyemang, stated that they were not opposed to the bail.
Sumaila was then granted bail in the amount of GHC 300,000 with two justifiable sureties who the court deemed necessary to be local residents.
Along with reporting to the police once every fourth night, he must also leave his passport in the court’s register.
More time to complete investigation
The investigators have notified their office that they will need extra time to complete their investigations, the Assistant State Attorney claimed in his request for a two-week adjournment.
According to her, the orders given to the investigators in response to the Attorney General’s office advise on the case docket caused the delay in concluding investigations.
The police prosecutor, DSP Emmanuel Nyamekye, adding that detectives are currently conducting additional research in Kumasi.
The prosecution has since been ordered by the court to move quickly with its inquiries so that the trial can start.
The Prosecution was also ordered by the court to provide its disclosures by the following court date, however the attorneys in the case wanted the disclosures submitted in advance of the next court date.
Murtala Inusah, Legal Affairs Correspondent for EIB Network, who was present in court, writes that Sumaila’s release on bond takes the total of those granted bail to four out of the seven defendants.
The three other inmates, Job Pomary, Sarah Agyei, and Christina Achab, who are all breastfeeding moms, are still being held in custody legally because they failed to comply with their individual bail requirements.
The matter will now be heard on September 19, 2023.
Suspected parties
Seven people have been charged with 14 counts: Patience Botwe, 18, a hairdresser; Sarah Agyei, 30, an unemployed person; Benjamin Sowah, 29; Malik Dauda, 34; a trader; Job Pomary; and Yahaya Sumaila, an excavator operator.
As prosecutors claim their investigations are coming to a close, their respective pleas have not been accepted.
Sarah Agyei and Christiana Achab, both alleged nursing moms, were each given a one million cedi bail amount to be supported by three sureties on August 8, 2023, when the charge sheet was revised.
The sureties are also required to leave their Ghana Cards with the court’s registrar and refrain from leaving the area.
They haven’t complied with their bail requirements; thus they are still being held in custody legally.
They are charged with 14 preliminary offenses, including a conspiracy count, five conspiracy crimes, and eight counts of dishonestly receiving.
Source: Kasapafmonline.com/Murtala Inusah
