James Gyakye Quayson, Member of Parliament for Assin North
An Accra High Court has granted a motion for the prosecution in the trial of James Gyakye Quayson, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North, to recall a witness pursuant to section 79 of the Evidence Act.
Madam Esi Dentaa Yankah, the Principal State Attorney (PSA), said the basis for the motion was that Latif Oshenu, the fifth prosecution witness in the ongoing trial, during his cross-examination, notified the court of a page that was omitted in an exhibit, which he had tendered into evidence.
The MP for Assin North is facing five charges; Deceit of Public officer, forgery of passport or travel certificates, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury, and false declaration for office.
He has since pleaded not guilty and has been granted bail.
Madam Yankah said the witness sought to refer to that omitted page but was unable to do so.
The prosecution sought for the witness to be recalled for the complete document to be placed before the court to enable him to refer to it as he sought to do during his testimony.
She prayed that the court should exercise its discretion in their favour because without that the said exhibit in its current form would be incomplete.
“We submit that the complete exhibit P is what will enable the trial court to do justice in the case rather than the court making reference to the clearly incomplete document, the construction of which might affect the trial judge’s ability to access the absent page or otherwise,” she added.
The prosecution said a copy of the said exhibit had been attached to the affidavit in support of the motion bearing in mind that exhibit P before the court was a copy of the document that the witness tendered.
“We submit that these are exceptional circumstances, which warrant the recall of a witness,” she said.
Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, Counsel for Mr Quayson, said: “We indicated in our notice in response what we intend to do. We have not seen the original documents, so we are not opposed.”
He said he just observed that when the State Attorney referred to a clearly incomplete document, that was what they put in evidence.
It was not as if somebody had changed the document that they put out before this court.
The court, presided over by Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, said the omitted document was the Parliamentary nomination form.
She said the prosecution had to have the original document tendered attached to the application as mandated by the rules of the court.
The Judge said it should be noted that the prosecution had not followed the orders of the court to provide the accused with certain documents.
“The order is made again so that the prosecution provides the accused with those documents before the next adjourned date on February 12,” she added.
