Tha late JB Danquah Adu
Counsel for Daniel Asiedu, who is standing trial for the gruesome murder of late Abuakwa North MP, JB Danquah-Adu, has asked the trial court to allow the seven-member jury to visit the home of the deceased where the incident occurred.
The lawyer, Yaw Dankwa, in an oral application stated that it will allow the jury to take notice of the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, particularly Stephen Apreko Mensah, who was a security man at the house of the MP at East Legon, Accra, when he was brutally killed.
He said it would help the jurors to understand the witness’s statement about the placement of a ladder in front of the house on the night JB was murdered, which the witness has said aroused his suspicions.
The court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, however, told the lawyer to formally file the application and serve a copy on the prosecution for them to respond to it.
Call Records
During the trail yesterday, the lawyer also urged the court to subpoena the call records between the police and the deceased’s security man on the night of the murder.
The witness had told the court in his evidence-in-chief led by Sefakor Batse, a Principal State Attorney, that he had used the gardener’s mobile phone to call the police on 191 on the night because his phone was off at the time.
However, while under cross-examination, Mr. Apreko told the court that between himself, the gardener and one Abraham, a security guard from a nearby house, he does not remember the actual person who called the police.
Asked by the lawyer as to who spoke to the police on the night, he once again told the court that he did not remember.
It was on the back of the answers given by the witness that the lawyer applied to the court to subpoena the call records between the police and the witness and others on that night.
Justice Marfo once again asked the lawyer to officially file his application and serve a copy on the prosecution.
Mr. Dankwa has began cross-examining the witness and much of his questions related to the time frame within which the witness said he saw the ladder to the point they called the police.
Give-And-Take
Lawyer (Yaw Dankwa): At the last adjourned date you told this court that you were asleep and you got up and by the time you got up it was about 1am when you went for a walk. Is that correct?
Witness (Stephen Apreko Mensah): Yes.
Lawyer: And you said that 1am was when you discovered there was a ladder in front of the room. Is that correct?
Witness: Yes. It was in the course of walking around that I realised the ladder had been placed in front of the house.
Lawyer: You also said when you saw the ladder it aroused your suspicion and you went out to call Abraham, the security guard in the other house. Is that correct?
Witness: I got frightened when I saw that a ladder had been placed at that particular place so I called Kwame, the gardener who was sleeping in the security room and thereafter, I rushed out to call Abraham who is a security guard in another house close by, to come and have a look and also help so that we would be many.
Lawyer: What time did you ran out to call Abraham from when you discovered the ladder at 1am?
Witness: It was the gardener’s phone that I used to know that the time was 1am but I did not take notice of the time I ran out to call Abraham.
Lawyer: So you will agree with me that the 1am that you said you saw the ladder in front of the house by the garage cannot be correct. Is that right?
Witness: It was about 1am.
Lawyer: You will also agree with me, would you not, that from the time you saw the ladder and the time you went to wake the gardener, there is a duration. Is it not?
Witness: I agree because time is not static.
Lawyer: Who actually made the call to the police on 191?
Witness: I recall that we called 191 but because I was not in the right frame of mind so I cannot recall the exact person who made the call.
Lawyer: Who spoke to the police when the 191 call was placed?
Witness: I cannot tell who exactly spoke with the police when the call was made.
Lawyer: You can agree with me, would you not, that Abraham could not speak to the police about the fact of what happened in the house?
Witness: I am a bit confused because it was the positioning of the ladder that aroused my suspicions and I rushed out to call Abraham who also came and witnessed it for himself so he can also speak to the police as a witness to what he also saw.
Lawyer: You will also agree with me, would you not, that the gardener could not tell the police what happened at the time you woke up and the time you decided to call the police because it was not his responsibility. You are the security guard and the security of the house lies on your shoulders and it was your responsibility to tell the police exactly what happened.
Witness: Yes. That is why I also gave a statement to the police.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak