High Court adjourns Adu-Boahene case to August 11 over absence of defence lawyers
The High Court in Accra has adjourned the trial of former Cyber Security Authority (CSA) Director-General Kwabena Adu-Boahene and his wife, Angela Adjei-Boateng, after their lawyers failed to appear in court.
The court was informed that efforts to reach some members of the defence team had been unsuccessful, with some reportedly engaged in script marking outside Accra.
Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, told the court that lead defence counsel, Samuel Atta Akyea, had written to the Chief Justice, the court Registrar and the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) indicating that he would not be available to appear during the legal vacation.
Dr Srem-Sai, however, argued that the decision on whether a court should sit during the legal vacation rested with the Chief Justice and not individual lawyers.
He said lawyers with genuine reasons for being unavailable were expected to formally apply to the court for an adjournment.
Presiding judge Justice Francis Achibonga noted that the accused persons’ lawyers were present when the case was last adjourned to August 11 but failed to appear on the scheduled date without providing an explanation to the court.
The judge, however, said it would be unfair to require the accused persons to continue cross-examining the fourth prosecution witness without their lawyers present.
He subsequently granted the accused persons an adjournment to enable them to determine the future of their legal representation.
Justice Achibonga warned that if the accused persons appeared at the next sitting without lawyers, they would be required to continue the cross-examination of the witness themselves.