Atta Akyea: I take no glory in winning “juvenile” Ya-Na trial

Atta Akyea

Lead counsel for 15 suspects charged for the murder of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani says he takes no glory in getting the suspects acquitted and discharged.

Atta Akyea in a somber mood, clad in mournful black apparel on Joy FM/MultiTV's news analysis programme NewsFile says he feels sorry for the killing of a respectable king of Dagbon and will not glory in his demise.

Being a chief himself from Akyem Abuakwa state, Akyea condemned what he said was a sacrilege which should not have happened.

But he said he will not however condone, a “juvenile” trial in which the state intoxicated and driven by propaganda will haul 15 Abudus before court and in a most shoddy manner seek justice for murder of a king, when the facts on the ground pointed to a war situation.

Atta Akyea says so shoddy was the prosecution's case, that even the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah would have acquitted and discharged the suspects if he were the judge.

He said it was fundamental that in a war situation it would be difficult, if not impossible to prove which bullet from an adversary hit the Ya-Na.

He said the prosecution even failed to prove that the charred body for which the suspects have been hauled before court was that of the Ya-Na and did not bother to pursue a DNA analysis before proceeding to court.

He described as embarrassing failure by one of the prosecution witness- Brigadier Wadorani who was tasked to conduct the autopsy to state in clear, unambiguous terms that the charred body was that of the Ya-Na.

Instead he told the court the charred body was that of a male adult but could not state as a matter of fact whether it was that of the Ya-Na.

The sitting Judge, Justice E.K. Ayebi in his ruling said:“It was not sufficient for the prosecution to say that the Ya-Na was dead and leave it at that. Even the investigation was not conclusive of the identity of the charred body, nor was a DNA examination conducted to prove that the body was that of the Ya-Na."

“In law, the death of the Ya-Na must be proven beyond reasonable doubt, especially in the absence of a death certificate. If the prosecution failed to prove that the charred remains were the body of the Ya-Na, then the accused persons could not be held liable for the death of the Ya-Na,” the trial judge held.

Upholding the ruling by the judge, Atta Akyea said the witnesses- all Andanis- were well fed in a hotel not only with food but with “rehearsed lies.”

He said the testimonies they provided were “dishonest,” “unreliable,” and their evidence “anemic.”

He wondered how the prosecution gathered only coloured and interested Andanis and failed to go beyond “enemies of the accused persons” to argue its case out to the judge.

Akyea said the state prosecuted the case in a way that sought to imply that all Adudus are potential suspects in the murder of the Ya-Na and that was not good enough.

Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana