The 35-year-old businessman accused of the murder of investigative journalist Ahmed Husain Suale has been denied bail by the Accra High Court.
In a ruling, the court, presided by Justice Kizita Naa Koowa Quarshie, said the court was currently unable to admit Daniel Koranteng Owusu, who is facing a provisional charge of abetment and murder at the Madina District Court, to bail.
The judge, however, assured him that the bail application could be considered in the future.
Motion
Moving the motion for bail, his lawyer, Nathaniel Egbor, argued that the prosecution’s facts do not support the charges preferred against the accused person.
Counsel added that the accused person, if granted bail, would not interfere with investigations, adding that the refusal of bail should not be used as a tool to punish his client.
Counsel further submitted that the constitutional right to presume an accused innocent until proven guilty meant that any attempt to restrain the liberty and freedom of movement of the applicant violates his constitutional rights to liberty.
To firm up his argument that his client was not a flight risk, counsel disputed claims that his client evaded justice and was arrested only when he returned to the country in August this year.
Counsel said that from the prosecution’s account, it showed that the deceased was murdered in January 2019, and the accused left the country in September 2019.
Counsel further argued that there was no evidence to show the accused had been in the jurisdiction all along, travelling in and out as an ordinary citizen would.
Opposed
Opposing the application, an Assistant State Attorney, Maame Afua Osei Gyamerah, argued that the opposition to bail was not to punish the applicant but to ensure he faced trial, given what she described as a reasonable suspicion of his involvement in the crime.
The ASA stated that call detail records show the accused person’s phone number had connections to the applicant’s neighbourhood four separate days before Suale’s demise.
The prosecution urged the court to refuse the bail application, describing it as premature, given ongoing investigations.
Background
Owusu was initially charged with one count of murder at the Madina District Court when he made his first appearance on March 19 this year.
However, when he made his second appearance, the state amended the charge sheet to include a charge of abetment of crime contrary to Section 2-(1) of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
He has been accused of abetting two other suspects, who are currently on the run, to murder Ahmed Suale at his home on January 16, 2019.
He is also facing a substantive charge of murder contrary to Section 46 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
The prosecution has accused him of sending pictures of the deceased to Kennedy Agyapong, who displayed them on Net2 TV and called for ‘retribution’ against him.
“Accused person, having known the deceased’s place of abode and possible hideouts; led two other culprits currently at large to the house of the deceased where he was shot and killed,” the documents alleged.
Source | Graphiconline
