Dr. Justice Srem Sai, a law lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), has said the ongoing ambulance trial warrants a restart if Richard Jakpa’s allegations against Godfred Dame, the Attorney-General (A-G), are proven.
Justice Sai who says the development stemming out of the revelations should be a cause for worry for every Ghanaian says in criminal trials, the A-G’s actions calls for what is termed mistrial, where the entire case is restarted afresh.
According to Dr. Sai, the NPP who sought to defend the A-G didn’t deny that the tape is not Mr. Dame’s voice and until he comes out to deny, the allegations are so serious to warrant a restart of the case.
Speaking on News 360 Tuesday, May 28, Dr. Srem Sai noted that “criminal justice all over the world is targeted at one thing, that it would be proper. It is even better for a thousand guilty people to be released than for one innocent person to be put behind bars. And so if you have this at the back of your mind, you will know that criminal trial is not even about the substance of what has been done. Criminal law, as far as everyone is concerned, everyone knows, is more about, sometimes, procedure than even the substance.”
He says for an accused person –Richard Jakpa, –to find himself being put under pressure by the Attorney-General who is the head of prosecution in the country, “alone is enough grounds for any serious judicial system, any serious democracy, to come up with what we call a mistrial hearing.”
“Mistrial hearings simply mean that something has gone wrong in the course of the trial,
either by the conduct of the prosecutor or by some of the procedures involved, which has tainted the trial. So in the United States for instance, this would have been a proper case for basically call for a mistrial, and then the case would be started anew, if it is found out that the allegations were indeed [true].”
Justice Sai’s comments come on the back of the allegations made against Godfred Dame by Richard Jakpa, to which the NDC have provided a supposed audio evidence to substantiate.
Richard Jakpa, the third defendant in the ongoing ambulance purchase trial alleged in court Thursday, May 23, 2024, that the Attorney-General had encouraged him to provide false testimony against Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson in the ongoing case.
The NDC, following the claims, released a 16-minute audio recording as evidence to support Mr. Jakpa’s allegations.
The recording purportedly captures a conversation between Godfred Dame and Jakpa, wherein Dame is alleged to have coached Jakpa on the statements to make in court, targeting Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson.
Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, at the press conference the party held Tuesday, May 28, explained that the tape depicted a coaching session aimed at influencing Jakpa’s court testimony.
However, in response to the NDC’s revelations, NPP legal practitioner Frank Davies addressed the press on the same day.
He argued that the tape contained repetitions, overlaps, and voice distortions, suggesting that the NDC had manipulated the alleged recording they presented.
Dame-Jakpa saga ‘puts into question, justice delivery regime under this A-G’ – Srem Sai
