An Accra High Court has acquitted and discharged the chief of Ayikai Doblo in the Ga West municipality, Nii Amoo Doodu, after successfully appealing a four-year conviction and imprisonment in August 2021.
Nii Amoo Doodu was charged with the offence of fraudulently transacting land leases with unsuspecting parties contrary to Section 34(C) of the Land Registry Act 122/62.
The traditional head of the Ayikai Doblo area was accused to have sold plots of land to multiple buyers including the Member of Parliament (MP) for Komenda /Edina/Eguafo/Abirem (KEEA), Samuel Atta-Mills, and a businesswoman based in the Western North region.
Following what he described as a miscarriage of justice by the Circuit Court, his lawyers appealed the ruling, and in March 2022, got a reversal of same by an Accra High Court which acquitted and discharged the Chief of any wrongdoing.
The High Court Judge, Justice Mary M.E Nsenkyire in her ruling stated that:
“The inconsistencies in the evidence of the prosecution as to the said person who demarcated the plats in issue granted same to the victim, received the purchase price, issuance of the documents covering the land is so glaring that this court cannot overlook same”.
The judge in a 25-page ruling noted: “One fact that comes out clearly from the evidence led by the prosecution is that there is not a scintilla of evidence on the record to support the assertion that it was the accused person who granted the said piece of land to the victim.”
She added: “The prosecution, therefore, failed to lead evidence to show that it was the accused person who made the grant of the plots in issue to the victim.
Having found that the prosecution failed to prove that the accused person made the first grant to the victim then the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. This ground of appeal succeeds.”
The judge rounded up her ruling by describing as a failure, the prosecutor’s attempt to lead evidence to show that it was the accused person who made the grant of the plots in issue to the victim.
“The result is that the appeal succeeds and the same is upheld. I hereby set aside the conviction and ultimately the sentence imposed on the appellant herein. The appellant is accordingly acquitted and discharged”.
Nii Amu Doodu and his team of lawyers who had described the initial conviction and sentencing as a miscarriage of justice, welcomed the acquittal by the High court saying
“Justice has now been served.”