Court to rule in mini-trial of cop

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday November 28, 2007
A Fast Track High Court in Accra will on November 29, give ruling in a mini-trial in a substantive case involving a policeman and a civilian being tried for allegedly dealing in cocaine.

The case involved Lance Corporal Ekow Russell, one of nine policemen interdicted in April, last year, for dealing in cocaine, and a civilian, Maxwell Antwi, whom the police claim Russell had given the narcotic drugs.


On November 7, when the prosecution sought to tender Antwi's statements in evidence, his counsel Musah Ahmed, objected, saying “Antwi gave the statement based on police assurance that he was going to be released on bail”.

He said that after the statement was taken, Antwi was not given the opportunity to seek the advice of a counsel and cited the “Illiterates Protection Act” as not being followed by the police.

“My client was dribbled by the police and we are calling for an enquiry into this," counsel said.

The prosecution had insisted that Antwi’s statements on March 27 and April 12, were taken in the presence of Samuel Sarku, an independent witness.

Left with no option, the court immediately commenced a trial within trial to unravel the truth.

Sarku and Chief Inspector Michael Addai, the investigator in the case, took turns to testify before the court.

When Antwi took his turn yesterday, he admitted that his statements were taken without any threat from any police officer and added that he gave it voluntarily.

He denied that Inspector Addai read over what he had written to him saying “I spoke in Twi and the investigator recorded in English. He only asked me to sign when he had not read over to me what I had told him”.

He further claimed that Sarku was called in by the investigator to witness the statements when the whole process of statement taking was over.

Antwi admitted that he was the person who had mentioned Russell’s name to the police and not Chief Inspector Addai saying “when I was arrested I told them that the bag I was holding belonged to Russell but I did not know that there was cocaine in it”.

He claimed that Chief Inspector Addai had advised him to accept responsibility for the case to enable Russell to secure the services of counsel on their behalf.

Russell is facing three counts of possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority, supplying narcotic drugs without lawful authority, and dealing in prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs. Antwi is charged with one count of possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority.

On November 2, the court dismissed an application for discontinuation of the case against Russell. His counsel, Captain Effah-Darteh (retired), had submitted that Russell had been processed before the Police Service Enquiry at the same time that the trial was proceeding.

The case for the prosecution was that on March 27, Antwi was arrested by the police with a whitish powdered substance which was later tested to be cocaine.

During interrogation, he alleged that it was part of 900 grammes of cocaine given to him by Russell to sell and claimed that he had already sold some quantities and given the proceeds to Russell.

The prosecution said on January 16, Russell, together with a team of policemen and accompanied by some Nigerian informants, arrested Sebastian Uba, also a Nigerian, with eight slabs of cocaine.

Russell, according to the prosecution, asked his colleagues to wait outside Uba's house while he entered with the informants.

"While his colleagues sent the suspect to the police station, Russell and the informants drove in one car towards Achimota with the cocaine and when they got to a point, Russell shared the drugs among the informants," it alleged.

Russell allegedly gave five slabs of the cocaine to the informants, brought one to the office as exhibit and kept two, thus creating the impression that he had seized only one slab from Uba.

The prosecution further told the court that Uba escaped from police custody on January 31, when Russell was instructed to take him from the La District Police Station to the Regional C.I.D. for investigations.