Afoko trial – prosecution ends case

The prosecution in the case involving Gregory Afoko, accused of murdering the former Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, has told the Court that it has ended its case.

The prosecution led by Chief State Attorney Mr Mathew Amponsah said this on Tuesday morning after the defence counsel ended its cross examination of the 14th prosecution witness, Detective Chief Inspector Augustine Nkrumah.

The prosecution called 14 witnesses, including Hajia Adams, Madam Issaka, Quinn, Taufic, Dominic, Awafo, Thomas, Benjamin, James, Peter, Sampson, Charles, Dr Lawrence, and Nkrumah.

The Court presided over by Justice Lawrence L. Mensah then adjourned the matter to November 19 and 20, for the defence counsel to open their defence.

Earlier during further cross examination of the 14th witness, he told the Court that the right side of the driver’s seat was damaged and the photographer did not take pictures of the whole driver’s seat, but that was not because it was the only side that was damaged.

He said the head rest of the driver’s seat was not captured in the picture, but could not tell whether it was because it was not damaged.

He did not agree with the defence counsel that the photographer in taking the pictures was interested in only the places in the vehicle that had come into contact with the liquid substance, because there were other places that the liquid substance had touched that were not taken.

He, however, agreed with the defence counsel that, the photographer did not take pictures of the back seat of the vehicle, adding that he did not observe whether the head rest of both the driver and passenger seats had any splash of the liquid substance and that was why PW9 did not take pictures of them.

When asked whether he took time to examine the whole interior of the car at the alleged crime scene, he answered in the affirmative, however he did not observe any splashes of liquid substances on the mats on the floor of the back seat.

Mr Nkrumah also said that, the said vehicle is a Toyota Hilux pick up but they did not take pictures of the vehicle as a whole.

The defence counsel suggested to him that the pictures of the car seats did not emanate from the vehicle of Mr Adams, but he reiterated that they were pictures from Mr Adams’s pick up.

The witness said the pictures of Hajia Adams, the wife of Mr Adams, given in evidence were that of the right side of her body.

He told the court that Hajia Adams did not demonstrate to them, how she pulled Mr Adams from the vehicle, but told them that she held the husband and assisted him out of the vehicle.

He further stated that they did not inspect the figures of Hajia Adams and did not capture same, but the defence counsel insisted that Hajia Adams fingers were not burnt when they visited her.

Apart from what she told us about pulling her husband from the vehicle we did not interrogate any other person on how Mr Adams left the vehicle because, the other witnesses that were interrogated stated that they came there at the time that Mr Adams was already out of the vehicle, he added.

The defence counsel suggested to him that the substance was poured on Mr Adams outside the vehicle in his house, and he never mentioned Afoko and Asabke as being responsible for pouring the substance on him, but the witness disputed that fact.

When asked about one Musah, who was arrested with Afoko but discharged at the circuit court, he said Musah was picked up by the Bolgatanga police and handed over to them in connection with the case.

Mr Nkrumah said according to the Bolgatanga police, they had information that Musah went about looking for acid to purchase, as such they suspected him and picked him up, but after investigation, that information turned out to be false.

The jury in questioning the witness sort to find out whether they investigated the where about of Abukari, the driver of Mr Adams on the day of the incident, but the witness answered that they did not investigate the where about of Abukari, but the Bolga police knew his where about.

When asked whether the Bolgatanga police told them about his where about, he said they did not.

Afoko, a farmer, is alleged to have killed Mr Mahama on May 20, 2015, and he is being held on the charges of conspiracy to commit crime to wit murder and murder.

He has pleaded not guilty before the Court, which is also composed of a seven-member jury.

It was alleged that Afoko carried out the act with Alandgi Asabke, who is on the run.

Source: GNA