Lawyer for ‘Galamsey queen’ Aisha Huang, has demanded an apology and retraction from Lands and Natural Resources Minister Samuel Abu Jinapor over comments he made in respect of his client.
According to Nkrabeah Effah Dartey, the statements made by the Minister is prejudicial which should not be coming from a trained lawyer on matters that are before the court.
The Defense counsel claims the Minister at a press conference last Thursday had made statements to the effect that, suspect Aisha Huang will remain in custody as along as the case travels in his attempt to rubbish claims she was connected and could easily be left off the hook.
However, the lawyer for Aisha Huang believe those statement should not be entertained and especially coming from a Minister and a lawyer.
“Why should you create an impression that Aisha Huang is going to be in custody? Oh God! I am very surprised. I think Honorable Abu Jinapor should come out openly to apologise for making that statement. You are not a judge; you are a lawyer and a Minister. Why should you say that an accused person will remain in custody for as long as the case travels even if five years” He said.
The private legal practitioner wondered if the comments of Mr. Samuel Abu Jinapor informed the decision of the judge to decline his bail application at the last hearing even without hearing from him.
“is that why the judge told me her mind has not change so I should not bother to put in an application for bail? It is unfortunate. I expected my Lord to allow me to say whatever I wanted to so that she can give her ruling that application for bail denied or something but my lord did not even write anything. Should I assume she was talking like this perhaps because Hon Abu Jinapor said they should not give my client bail? Hon Abu Jinapor should not be making such prejudicial statements that an accused person will remain in custody for as long as the trial goes on, how dare he say that?”, he asked.
Source: theGhanaianvoice.com