John Paintsil Hot As Police Chief Rejects ADR

The assault case involving John Paintsil, a former Black Stars defender, and DSP Emmanuel Basintale, the Legon District Police Commander, is set to go full trial as the complainant in the case has rejected the offer for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as suggested by the trial judge, Ms. Patricia Quansah.

According to DSP Basintale, he was not “amenable to settlement,” setting the tone for the start of the trial.

This was after Ms Quansah had in open court suggested to the Legon Police Commander that due to the nature of the case and his work schedule as well the profession of John, ADR was not an option to the settlement of the case before the court.

She added that DSP Basintale was at liberty to decide against the ADR.

 
In Camera  
Meanwhile, the judge, after standing the case down for over an hour, heard the case in her chambers to the disappointment of journalists who had flooded the court for coverage.

DAILY GUIDE later gathered that DSP Basintale was led in evidence by the prosecutor, Chief Inspector David Galley.

None of the parties was ready to drop any hint, including the date for the next adjournment.

The international footballer at the first hearing, escaped bench warrant minutes after same had been issued for his arrest.

John was expected to appear before the court over an alleged assault and stealing of his wife's vehicle.

When the case, which was originally scheduled to be heard at 8:30 am was called, neither the accused nor his lawyer was in court.

This compelled the trial judge to issue the arrest warrant for the footballer.

The judge argued that she was sure that both the lawyer for the accused and John were aware of the date for the hearing but had failed to appear before the court.

She said it was not the duty of the court to wait for anybody, especially when both parties in the case had agreed on a time for hearing.

 
Escape
However, minutes after the case had been adjourned, John and his lawyer, Samil Ibrahim, appeared in court tumbling over each other to plead for the warrant to be rescinded.

According to the lawyer, his client had been at the court premises but was not in the court room.

The trial judge reminded the lawyer that the outside of the court was not the court, adding that the accused ought to have been in the court room where his presence was needed.

Ms. Quansah rescinded the warrant.
 
Charges 
According to the prosecution led by Chief Inspector Galley, John Paintsil, the Fulham footballer, on My 24, this year at East Legon in Accra, caused harm to the left eye of DSP Basintale, the Legon District Police Commander.

The prosecution said John threatened to harm the police officer when he uttered the words: “I will teach you a lesson; I will deal with you,” intended to put DSP Basintale into fear of harm.

The prosecution also slapped the footballer with an additional charge of offensive conduct for using the abusive words “useless, foolish, bias and unprofessional police who always takes sides in my case,” to the annoyance of the commander.

John is facing a fourth charge of assault of a public officer while executing his lawful duties.

He has denied the charges and is admitted to bail in the sum of GH¢5,000 with a surety.

Facts
According to C/Insp. Galley, the accused was invited to the station when Mrs. Richlove Paintsil on May 22, 2016, reported that her husband (Paintsil) had stolen her car.

He said based on the report, John was invited and was ordered to bring the car but upon his return the following day, he came without the car.

The prosecutor claimed that in the course of the investigation, DSP Basintale asked John to bring the car to the station for safe keeping to enable further investigations into the case since both the accused and his wife were claiming ownership of it.

This, according to the prosecutor, did not go down well with John as he flared up and hurled insults at the commander, who ordered the investigator to arrest him to be detained.

In the process, John pushed the investigator while DSP Basintale was punched in the eye when he attempted to intervene.

C/Insp. Galley said John also accused the commander of flirting with his wife.

By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
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