Court to rule on submission of “no case” in Ya-Na murder trial
The Fast Track High Court hearing the Ya-Na murder case on Friday set March 22 to rule on the submission of “no case” filed by the defence.
The Court also said it had received a copy of the application of the submission of “no case” filed by the defence.
Mr Justice E.K. Ayebi, the trial judge, said the Court had also obtained the response of the prosecution to the application as well as a counter response from the defence to the prosecution’s written submissions.
On February 24, 2011 the Fast Track High Court hearing the case adjourned because the defence had not been served with the prosecution’s response to the defence application.
Fifteen persons are standing trial for their alleged involvement in the murder of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II and 30 others in March 2002.
They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy to murder and murder.
The accused persons are: Mohammed Habib Tijani, former Yendi DCE, Iddrisu Iddi, 76, Alhaji Baba Iddrisu Abdulai, 54, Kwame Alhassan, 53, and Mohammadu Abdulai, 57.
The others are: Saibu Mohammed, 34, Alhassan Mohammed Briamah, 40, Alhassan Ibrahim, Mohammed Mustapha and Sani Moro.
The rest are: Baaba Ibrahim, Yakubu Usifu, Ahmed Abukari, Abdul Razak Usifu and Alhassan Braimah.
Zakaria Forest, the man alleged to have cut-off the head and hands of the Ya-Na, is at large.
The prosecution’s case is that in March 2002, the Ya-Na and some of his elders were killed following a clash between the two royal gates in Dagbon, the Abudus and Andanis.
After the clash, Idrissu Gyamfo and Yidana Sugri were arrested and prosecuted for the alleged murder but they were acquitted and discharged.
The government in a fresh attempt to find the murderers conducted a dawn swoop at Yendi sometime last year, during which 41 persons were rounded up.
After screening them at Bimbilla, 33 were granted self- recognisance bail, while the rest were brought to Accra.
Subsequently, more suspects were arrested and after screening, the 15 were charged with the offences.
Source: GNA