By William Yaw Owusu
Tuesday, April 17,2007
The absence of a Chinese interpreter in the trial of six persons charged for the importation of 77 parcels of cocaine on board the MV Benjamin vessels yesterday compelled an Accra Fast Track High Court to adjourn proceedings until April 26.
The six men, including two Chinese “ Cui Xian Li, 49; a vessel engineer and Luo Yui Xing, 49 as well as Pak Bok Sil an engineer from Korea do not speak English and the court since the commencement of the trial has relied on the services of interpreters to facilitate the process.
But when trial resumed after the Easter break, it was only the Korean interpreter who was in the court room as the Chinese counterpart was said to have traveled outside the jurisdiction.
The three Ghanaians standing trial together with the foreigners are Joseph Kojo Dawson, the vessel owner, Isaac Arhin, 49 and Phillip Bruce Arhin, 49, a mechanic.
All six men have been charged with various roles they played in the importation of the cocaine to the Tema Port in April last year.
Seventy-six of the parcels are still missing.
Dawson has pleaded not guilty to using his property for narcotic offences while Bok Sil also pleaded not guilty to one count of engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs.
Isaac Arhin, Bruce Arhin, Li and Xing have all pleaded not guilty to two counts of engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs and possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority.
Immediately Detective Inspector Justice Oppong, the initial investigator took his seat to continue his evidence-in-chief as the ninth prosecution witness, the prosecution led by William Kpobi, a Principal State Attorney attempted to tender Li and Xing’s statements in evidence through the witness.
But Solomon Korley a counsel for the two Chinese objected to what the prosecution sought to do saying it would be difficult for him to confer with his clients on whether they gave the statements to the police.
“They confided in me that they gave statements upon their arrest but in the absence of their interpreter if is difficult for me to ask them whether the statements being tendered really came from them,” counsel added.
The court presided over by Justice Annin Yeboah of the Court of Appeal had no option but to adjourn the proceedings and ordered the Registrar of the court to get a Chinese interpreter for the court in the next sitting.
He explained that trying an accused person in the language he/she did not understand infringed the provisions of the Constitution saying “we want such people to appreciate that Ghanaian courts are there to dispense justice to all:
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