An Accra High Court has dismissed an application filed by lawyers for National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Chairman, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, that sought to put his trial on hold.
Trial judge, Justice Samuel Asiedu, on Wednesday, ruled that the application does not raise serious issues of fact or law requiring that the court halts proceedings.
Lawyers for the politician had argued that the trial could not proceed since they intend to have the Court of Appeal set aside the court’s decision to accept a statement from a witness who “disavowed the statement.”
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The first Prosecution Witness, Benjamin Osei Ampofo Adjei, a broadcast journalist with Accra-based Adom FM denied his witness statement presented by the prosecution.
The witness told the court that he was at the office when a police officer brought the statement for him to sign but failed to read it because, according to him, it was minutes to the 6:PM bulletin.
Following this testimony, the lead counsel for Mr Ofosu-Ampofo, Tony Lithur, urged the court to reject the statement as it was not authored by the witness.
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But Justice Asiedu dismissed the objection and admitted the statement saying once it was signed by the witness, it was valid.
Before Mr Lithur’s application was dismissed, Chief State Attorney, Asiamah Sampong, had opposed the application on grounds that nothing bars the court legally from proceeding.
He also said the statement had been in evidence since the State filed all documents it intends to use before the start of the trial.