Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, has hailed the decision of the Court of Appeal to overturn the decision of the trial judge in the case of Stephen Opuni to start the trial from scratch.
The Court of Appeal’s ruling will ensure that the proceedings and evidence led in the case up until now are not disregarded, providing continuity in the legal process.
Mr. Tuah-Yeboah said that even though the decision of Justice Kwasi Anokye Gyimah, who took over the case in March 2023, to start the trial from scratch for allegations of unfairness was within his discretion, at no point did the accused raise issues with the collection of evidence in the case.
“In the course of trying any criminal matter and in any court of law and if there is a new judge, the judge has the discretion to either adopt or start in whole.
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And by that discretion, such a judge is supposed to look at various instances and in this particular case, it was our considered view that even though the judge had the power to exercise his discretion, looking at the various parameters, he erred and that is the basis for which we filed the appeal at the Court of Appeal.
“One of the key points that the trial judge relied on has to do with the proceeding having been tainted, but we argued that if you look at the evidence adduced, there was no point during the trial where we can say that the accused person raised an issue whether the judge was taken the right evidence or not and the evidence was intact so in adopting proceedings, we argued that the trial judge was supposed to look at the evidence and not other matters.”
Mr. Tuah-Yeboah also admonished the Opuni team to seek redress at the Supreme Court if it is not satisfied with the Court of Appeal’s ruling.
“The Court of Appeal has delivered a ruling, and they may also decide to appeal to the Supreme Court for the Supreme Court to once and for all, determine the state of this matter.”
