Ya-Na trial: Judge was arm-twisted to free killers

Yaa-Naa Yakubu Andani II

A group calling itself the Northern Youth for Justice is embarking on a street protest to pressurise the government to ensure that the killers of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II and his elders are found and duly punished.

Mohammed Sulemana, spokesperson for the group, said the authorities' failure to find the killers was worrying but even more disturbing, he said, was the knowledge that the criminals who killed the Ya-Na were walking freely in the society.

Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show Monday, he said fear has been created within the people of Dagbon because “we don't know when they [the killers] will strike again”.

The overlord of Dagbon, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II, and several of his elders were murdered on 27 March 2002 in Yendi, in what has largely been described as a community war between Abudus and Andanis in the Dagbon chieftaincy dispute.

An Accra Fast Track Court last Tuesday acquitted and discharged 15 persons accused of killing the Overlord of Dagbon. The ruling evoked violent response from predominantly members of the Andani royal family who are also believed to be supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress.

The Northern Youth for Justice, say the victims have been denied justice by the trial judge, Justice E.K. Ayebi.

The spokesperson for the group called on all peace-loving Ghanaians to join them, stressing that the group stands for peace and justice.

He suspects that the judge was arm-twisted into freeing the suspects.

According to him if Justice Ayebi had not deliberately truncated the trial and had allowed the defendants to open their defence, the jury might have arrived at a different conclusion.

Lawyers for the 15 defendants submitted a no case after the prosecution closed its case and the judge upheld their arguments and acquitted and discharged the accused.

“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,” the court said.

“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.

He subsequently directed the jury - in accordance with the law - to enter a 'no guilty' verdict for the defendants.

But the Northern Youth for Justice is not convinced.

Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana