The Jury hearing the murder case of the late J. B. Danquah Adu, former Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North in the Eastern Region, has indicated that they can no longer be present at the hearing.
The jury claims their absence is due to the non-payment of their allowances since March 2022, a situation which describe as taking a toll on them.
The jury members made this known in a letter addressed to the judge presiding over the case.
Explaining the impact of the non-payment of these allowances, the members stressed that this has affected their ability to carry out their duties as they cannot continue to bear the cost of footing their transportation to attend the court hearings.
The late JB Danquah Adu joined Ghana’s parliament when he won a seat in the Ghana’s general elections in 2004 to represent Abuakwa North. He was appointed as Deputy Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs by the John Agyekum Kufuor administration. He lost the seat to, Samuel Kwadwo Amoako, a member of his own party, the New Patriotic Party in the 2008 general elections.
He however won it back in the 2012 general elections by beating the National Democratic Congress’s Victor Smith. He was a member of both the Special Budgets Committee and the Trade, Industry and Tourism Committee in Ghana’s 5th parliament of the 4th Republic.
On 9 February 2016, he was stabbed dead in the early hours of the morning. Subsequently, the police arrested a man for the murder. The man, Daniel Asiedu, later confessed to killing the MP, in a struggle as he tried to rob him, and was charged with murder.
Meanwhile, the High Court in Accra has admitted to evidence caution statements by accused person.
This follows a mini-trial as a result of an objection raised by lawyers for the accused persons, Daniel Asiedu and Vincent Dosso.
The lawyers indicated that the caution statements which prosecution’s eight witnesses intended to tender during his testimony were not taken from the accused persons voluntarily.
In line with the dictates of section 120(6) of the Evidence Act, a mini-trial was held in the absence of the Jury to determine whether or not the caution statements should be excluded from the evidence of the prosecution.
The prosecution during the mini-trial called witnesses including the investigator who was cross-examined. But after consideration of the evidence made available during the mini-trial, the court ruled that the caution statements were made voluntarily and hence overruled the objection of the counsel of the accused person.
Justice Lydia Osei Marfo in her ruling stated that the accused persons were not coerced by the Police, nor were they promised any favours before they voluntarily gave the caution charge statement.
