Mella and Castillo going to court to hear their sentence
By William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The two Venezuelans arrested in connection with the siezure of 588.88 kilogrammes of cocaine in a house at East Legon, Accra in November 2005, have been jailed 25 years and 20 years respectively by an Accra Fast Track High Court.
They are Joel Mella, a machine operator who received 25 years and Halo Cabezza Castillo, 38, businessman who had 20 years. They are to serve in hard labour.
Another Venezuelan, David Duarte Vasquez, now at large who is the brain behind the importation of the narcotic substance was also sentenced to 25 years in absentia by the court.
It was Vasquez’s Ghanaian girlfriend, Grace Asibere Asibi, who informed the police about the narcotics business of the Venezuelans, leading to their arrests.
The court, presided over by Justice E.K. Ayebi found them guilty on three counts of conspiracy and importation of narcotic substance without a license from the Ministry of Health.
Mella alone faced an additional charge of possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority.
The court whose verdict took more than an hour yesterday, ordered the two be deported back to Venezuela after serving their various sentences and added that their sentences should take effect from November 24, the date of their arrests.
It further ordered the destruction of a vacuum machine used to compress the cocaine into compact pieces, a chemical called ammonia, gloves, cargo stickers, exercise books used to record sales of the cocaine which were all retrieved by the police at the East Legon residence and also confiscated the two mobile phones found on them.
Justice Ayebi in his judgement held that the prosecution was able to establish beyond reasonable doubt a case against the Venezuelans.
“Defence counsel had all the time submitted that the prosecution resorted to circumstantial evidence in the trial but I must point out that it is not unusual to resort to circumstantial evidence in order to prove a case against accused persons”.
The court said the defence put up by the accused contradicted the earlier statements they gave to the police and their conducts during investigations showed that they were at all material times trying to thwart the efforts of the police.
On the charge of conspiracy, Justice Ayebi said “the parties do not necessarily have to know each other before committing a crime. All that is needed is for them to agree with common purpose to commit the crime. In this regard the prosecution is not bound to prove that they acted in a common purpose or objective”.
He said the prosecution was able t establish that the cocaine which the Ghana Standards Board analysed to be of high purity level was imported by the three, contrary to the defence counsel position that it had been imported by Vasquez and Asibi.
“The coca plant is not grown in Ghana or produced in the country and the person found with it must be able to explain how he got them”.
The court further held that the prosecution was able to prove that it was Vasquez who used his company called Compimchex Ghana Limited to front the cocaine business and was the same person who had brought Mella and Castillo to Ghana to add value to the cocaine.
The court said Vasquez was jailed in absentia because a Circuit Court had already issue an arrest warrant and the order published in the media.
He said Mella’s claim that he was a first time visitor in the country could not be correct because the prosecution was able to prove that he visited Ghana several times from 2004 and had all the time put up with Vasquez.
“Mella was not a guest in the house where the cocaine was siezed and his statement to the police contradicted his claim that he live in a hotel”.
He said his denial that he did not know Vasquez could not be true because he took a photograph with him together with Asibi’s brother.
The court also said Castillo’s claim that he was a tourist and lived in Achimota was never the truth adding “he has no place of abode other than the East Legon residence”.
The judge said they acted together because the police found on his mobile phone the same number that Mella had on his phone and that number belonged to Vasquez.
The judge before the sentencing expressed concern about the high incidence of narcotic drug trafficking which he described as tarnishing the image of the country saying “I am going to pass a deterrent sentence”.
The prosecution invited nine witnesses to testify during the trial while the defence did not call any.
The facts of the case are that, on November 24, 2005, police detectives led by Superintendent Edward Tabiri, acting on a tip-off, went to house number 348 at Mempeasem, East Legon, Accra, and found Mella there.
He was arrested and he led the team to the upper floor of the house where a thorough search revealed. three bottles of ammonized substance which is used to turn cocaine into crack, a vacuum machine used to compress cocaine into compact pieces, 13 gloves, white polythene wrappers and KLM Cargo stickers..
Other items found were brown cellotape, a testing bottle believed to be for testing cocaine, exercise books showing records of sales, and cell phones showing contact numbers of business partners.
When the officers peeped through the key hole of the room opposite that of Mella’s, they saw boxes packed there and therefore requested for the keys but he refused to release it. When the search team forced the door open, a number of compressed and wrapped items in 12 boxes were found which the Ghana Standards Board tested and analysed to be cocaine.
The prosecution said Mella claimed the cocaine belonged to one Shamo or Bude, but investigators later concluded it was Vasquez.
The prosecutor told the court that in another room some of the drugs were found mixed with water and Mella even advised the police to "separate it from the rest of the 588 kilogrammes as the whole thing could get destroyed".
In the course of the search, Castillo came to the house and was also arrested. When his phone was seized, the police found the same number belonging to Vasquez on that phone.
Vasquez and a Dutchman, Vicente Cross, had set up a company called Compimchex Limited and each owned 40 per cent of the shares, with the remaining 20 per cent belonging to Grace Asibere Asibi, the Ghanaian girlfriend of Vasquez.
The prosecution further said the company was set up to do import and export business with Vasquez as the Managing Director, but "this business was used as a front for the narcotics trade."
The prosecutor said Vasquez failed to secure entry visas for Mella and Castillo in August last year, but managed to bring Mella in to the country in September 9, the same year.
They spoke through a Spanish interpreter throughout the trial which commenced in January 2006
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