Outspoken and Ghanaian legal practitioner, Lawyer Maurice Ampaw has condemned the police for failing to gather appropriate evidence to aid the judgment of the Delta Force, who were standing trial for assaulting a judge and disrupting court processes in a Kumasi court of law.
Some eight members of the New Patriotic Party militia group, Delta Force, standing trial for assaulting a judge and disrupting court processes, have been discharged.
The Kumasi Circuit Court discharged the suspects on Wednesday, for lack of evidence.
But according to lawyer Ampaw, it is the duty and responsibility of the police to find the evidence to back the court in order to prosecute the Militia Group in the appropriate manner.
He added that, Ghanaians should not jubilate over the matter but rather load pressure on the police since they are feeling reluctant to perform their duties.
“The police are to look for the evidence. People should not jubilate whiles the evidence is there and someone [police] is reluctant to go for it. What is the duty of the police? We can hold them for negligence for not getting the intelligence gathering…”
“We should put pressure on the police. The state attorney hurried to get justice. The judge hurried in the investigation. We are encouraging the police…this hypocrisy must stop somewhere…” he said.
According to him, he believes a reward system can be issued by the police to allow people who were present during the assault to come and identify suspects, who can then be freed by proving beyond doubt they weren’t present than ruling the case null for failure of evidence.
Meanwhile, Mr Ampaw added that the court doesn’t always need to rely on evidence to judge a case since some evidence speaks for itself hence those insisting for evidence before prosecution should shun the gesture.
“The court doesn’t always rely on evidence. The court doesn’t always need evidence. Some evidence speaks for itself. With those who want evidence, assuming if their relatives were killed, they will not say the game is evidence. They will urge the police as a must to find evidence…”
The legal practitioner, Mr Ampaw further urged President Akufo-Addo to hurriedly appoint the independent prosecutor into political play with regards to the NPP’s manifesto in 2016.
He said the prosecutor should have been appointed first among other things when President Akufo-Addo was sworn in on January 7 this year.
“One of the institutions before appointing all other things should be the independence prosecutor. Now it’s heading towards one year and we haven’t seen anything. Before the independence prosecutor will be elected then all the evidence would have been erased…” he noted on Okay FM.
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