Court orders state to hasten investigations in Cecilia Dapaah stolen money case
An Accra Circuit Court has asked the state to expedite investigations into the case where seven persons are standing trial for stealing from Cecilia Dapaah, a former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources.
It has also directed the prosecution to file their disclosures by September 19 for trial to commence.
Some lawyers of the accused persons have prayed for the court to order the state to file disclosures before September 19, 2023, so that “we can do some business on that day.”
Yahaya Sumaila, the seventh accused person, was admitted to bail in the sum of GH¢300,000 with two sureties to be justified at today’s sitting.
The court said that all sureties should be within the jurisdiction and that he (Sumaila) must submit his passport with the court registry.
Sumaila has been ordered to report to the police every two weeks.
However, the bail application for Renjamin Sowa, the third accused person and Patience Botwe’s boyfriend, was denied by the court presided over by Mrs Afia Owusua Appiah.
The court rejected Sowa’s bail application due to the gravity of the offence and punishment when found guilty, and that Sowa was tracked down and apprehended in Tamale.
Earlier lawyers of Sowa and Sumaila and Patience Botwe repeated their application for bail.
So far, four of the accused persons Job Pomary, Sarah Agyei, Christina Acab and Sumaila Yahaya have been granted bail by the court.
They are however unable to execute the bail terms.
The state led by Akosua Agyapomaa Agyemang an Assistant State Attorney opposed the application for bail and relied on her affidavit in opposition.
The two accused, who were said to be breast-feeding mothers, had been granted bail of GH¢1 million each with three sureties at the last hearing.
They are Patience Botwe, a hairdresser and Christiana Achab, a trader.
All 14 defendants are charged with allegedly stealing money and valuables from the former minister’s residence, including conspiracy to commit a crime, six counts of stealing, and seven counts of dishonestly receiving.
The court ordered the two women, who were previously granted bail, to provide documented evidence that they were lactating mothers.
Meanwhile, the court has discharged Kwaku Botwe, father of Patience Botwe, alias, Maabena.
The prosecution, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Emmanuel Nyamekye said one other accused, Franklin Sarakpo, was at large.
The court heard that the complainants, Mr Daniel Osei Kufour and his wife Mrs. Cecilia Dapaah, lived in Abelemkpe, Accra.
DSP Nyamekye said the first accused, Patience Botwe, was the complainants’ house help, while the second accused, Sarah Agyei, was unemployed and a former house help of the complainants.
He told the court that the third accused, Benjamin Sowah, was Patience Botwe’s lover, the fourth accused, Malik Dauda, the first accused’s former boyfriend, and the fifth accused, Christiana Achab, a trader.
The sixth accused, Job Pomary, is the fifth accused’s husband; the seventh accused, Yahaya Sumaila, is an excavator operator who lives in Sagnarigu, Tamale Metropolis; and the eighth accused, Franklin Sarakpo, is the fifth accused’s son who is on the run.
Source: GNA