The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), and prosecuting counsel in the NCA trial, Mrs Yvonne Attakora-Obuobisa has said that the Herald Newspaper published a front-page headline which is in contempt of court.
The front page headline of the Herald Newspaper published on the 12th of March, 2019 stated “A-G’s Crucial Witness Refuses to Appear In Court”.
The DPP raised these preliminary issues before making an application concerning a mini trial yet to commence.
The mini trial is expected to determine the admissibility or otherwise, of the confession statement that Mr Eugene Baffoe Bonnie, former boss of NCA and the first Accused in the trial, made to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
Prior to the publication of the headline, the DPP said that they were unable to get all their witnesses for the mini trial, and asked for an adjournment to today, to enable them to get their Witnesses to appear in court.
The DPP said that the author of the news article in the Herald newspaper, made pre-judicial statements about the court, conduct of the case and the mini trial which is yet to commence.
According to Mrs Attakora-Obuobisa, there have been instances where in-camera proceedings of the trial were published by journalists.
She added that both the writer and editor of the Herald newspaper ought to be warned.
The judge, His Lordship Justice Eric Kyei Baffour said, that he had not read the newspaper publication, but his attention had been drawn to an “ugly” picture of him which accompanied the story.
“I would have to send a warning to the newspaper and the author of the article”, he added
The DPP’s Application
The Director of Public Prosecution, has made an application before the court to have the evidence of two out of its five witnesses for the mini trial, taken in-camera.
She prayed the Court for the prosecution to advance its reasons, in-camera.
The Court was cleared and the rest of the proceedings took place in-camera.
Mr Eugene Baffoe Bonnie and four others are standing trial for allegedly, amongst other offences, causing financial loss to the State, to the tune of 4 million Ghana cedis.
Source: GhanaJustice/F.Kyeremateng
