By William Yaw Owusu
Friday May 18, 2007
Another independent expert who worked on the secret tape recorded conversation between ACP Kofi Boakye, former Director of Police Operations, and some suspected narcotic drug dealers, has said it is unlikely that any of the participants recorded the conversation.
Phillip Thomas Harrison, a forensic consultant with speciality in the analysis of digital and magnetic recordings, told an Accra Fast Track High Court yesterday that upon examination it was established that the conversation was originally recorded on a microcassette analogue recorder before it was subsequently copied unto a Compact Disc (CD).
He was testifying at the trial of Kwabena Amaning, also known as Tagor, and Alhaji Issah Abass, whose voices were said to be part of recording by an unknown person at ACP Boakye’s residence on May 15, last year.
Tagoe and Abass were among 14 people recommended for prosecution by the Justice Georgina Wood Committee set up by the Ministry of the Interior to investigate the missing 77 parcels of cocaine from the MV Benjamin vessel at the Tema Port in April, last year and another quantity seized at a house at East Legon in Accra last November.
Tagor is facing four counts of conspiracy, engaging in a prohibited business related to narcotic drugs, supply of narcotic drugs and buying of narcotic drugs while Abass is charged with three counts of conspiracy, engaging in a prohibited business related to narcotic drugs and supply of narcotic drugs.
The two have pleaded not guilty and are in prison custody.
Led in evidence by Edward Agyeman Duodu, a Principal State Attorney. Mr. Harrison who is the 10th prosecution witness, told the packed court that as the officer in charge of the authenticity examination, he found no evidence of the conversation being edited or tampered with.
He said he detected that there were two sections on the DC, adding “the first part lasted 14 seconds before the recording was stopped and switched on for the main conversation to begin.”
He further told the court that during the entire conversation, there was no evidence of switching activities even though the recording had the hallmark of interruptions, repetitions and others.
Crossed-examined by Nana Asante Bediatuo, counsel for Tagor, the witness said that there was no conversation of the World Cup on the recording and added that the participants had spoken in the natural voices.
“Natural speech is different from play-acting and this can easily be detected if there is any on the recording.”
He attributed the stoppages on the tape to a natural occurrence saying, “there is a strong line of acoustic continuation and this cannot suggest that the tope has been edited or tampered with”.
When Mr. Osafo Buaben, counsel for Abass took his turn, the witness said “I am not sure the switch off and on came from any of the participants.”
Earlier Professor John Peter French, the leader of the team of experts had concluded his evidence.
During cross-examination by Mr. Ellis Owusu-Fordjuor, lead counsel for Tagor, Prof. French told the packed court that he received the copy from the prosecution on October 30, last year and completed his work on March 16, this year.
He said the prosecution told him of the source of the tape recording and added that what he worked on was not the original copy, “It had been transferred from another gadget.”
Witness further said the names of the participants on the tape were mentioned to him by the prosecution when they submitted the CD player and also added that there was an unidentified voice but they were unable to attribute it to anyone.
He explained that if lots of people are conversing, it could create a new sound and that might have been the unidentified voice on the tape, saying “the acoustic conditions determine who is talking.”
Witness also said that if there were incomplete statements, it was difficult to make attributions “as the transcript could show.”
“I asked for a second voice sample to compare with the voices on the original tape and if they had taken those voices from the participants under duress, we would not have been able to use it.”
He admitted that part of the conversation was inaudible but said, “they were not edited and added that there was no indication that the participants were coerced to talk.
He said it was Dr. Kofi Agyekum, a lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Ghana, Legon who assisted them in the translation of the Twi and added that they followed proper procedures to arrive at the conclusion.
When Gabriel Asare Otchere-Darko, additional counsel for Tagor took his turn, Professor French told the court that what they did was a “perfect transcript of the conversation” and added, “the conversation was not stage-managed or play acted.”
“We exercised a very high degree of caution in attributing the words to the participants and I do not see my work as verifying or supplementing the work of the police. My job was just to attribute the utterances.”
When cross-examined by Mohammed Attah, counsel for Abass, Professor French told the court, presided over by Justice Jone Dotse of the Court of Appeal that he did not get the original copy of the recorded conversation.
He said: “Although we prefer original copies, there are no dangers if we use copies other than the original.”
Sitting continues on May 22.
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