THE LIMPING MAN STILL HOT ,AS AG SLAPS HIM WITH FIVE CHARGES

By Felix Engsalige Nyaaba

Christian Asem Darkei, a.k.a The Limping Man, was yesterday remanded into prison custody to face trial after five charges was formally leveled against him at the Accra Fast Track High Court for alleged to the brain behind the 77 parcel cocaine that got disappeared on the scandal in April 2006.

He was sent to prison custody on the grounds of insufficient food being served to him and inaccessibility to his counsel at the cells of the Bureaus of National Investigation (BNI

 The accused, also known as Sheriff Darkey, has been charged with five counts of conspiracy to commit crime, importation of narcotic drugs, possession of narcotic drugs, undertaking prohibited business to wit cocaine contrary to the Narcotic offence Act 386 of PNDC Law 1993 and corrupting a public officer contrary to the criminal offence Act 1960 of Act29..

He pleaded not guilty to the charges and the presiding judge, Mr. Justice Mustapha Habib Logo, denied him bail and remanded him in prison custody after his lawyer, Mr. George Heward-Mills pleaded for him to be send to the prisons on health and feeding grounds.

He was initially tried at the Accra  Circuit Court and discharged but was re-arrested on same day and processed to the  High Court at the request of the Attorney General to have him  tried before a High Court judge following the antecedent of  the case in which two persons were jailed but later released on an Appeal.

In his application for bail, the defence counsel averred that, the BNI officers has been denying the accused person access to his legal counsel as well as family members who send him food at the BNI custody, stressing that the accused who was arrested at the hospital, could be deteriorated if he was allowed to be kept at the BN cells.

According to the defence counsel, on many occasions the accused complains of insufficient food  given to him in the BNI  cells and when his family members comes, the security deny them access to him.

He  further contended that,  the accused was arrested on his Hospital bed at the Korle-Bu Hospital, and that his health condition would get deteriorated if he was continued to be in the custody of the  BNI without any medical attention.

He therefore prayed the court to order that the accused be kept in prison custody if it was mindful in its decision to deny the accused bail to enable family members to visit and prove him with food since the charges were not bailable offence.

On the issue of the charges leveled against the accused, the defence argued that, the entire charges were fabricated by the  prosecution to find a conviction for the accused and that there was nothing substantial in the charges that the prosecution could use to  prove  to the court that the accused has indeed committed such charges.

Mr. Heward-Mills contended that, the accused was arrested on his Hospital bed and during the arrest; there was no substance in relation to illegal drugs found on him and that, the charges were ‘self-cooked’ by the prosecution to have the accused convicted into prison without any substantial evidence against him.

But the lead state prosecutor Mrs. Yvonne Obobisah, a Principal State Attorney vehemently opposed the defence application for bail and to transfer the accused to prison custody.

The prosecution argued that, there was evidence enough against the accused, hence the charges leveled against him, stressing that the accused has been at large from arrest till he was grabbed by the security when he pretended to be seeking medical treatment at the Country Major Teaching Hospital.

According to the Principal State Attorney, the accused run into hiding for well over four years when his name came up in the infamous cocaine scandal in 2007, till he was arrested and wonder why he went into hiding if he was not guilty conscious when he got to know that he was wanted by the security.

She told the court that, the prosecution was armed with compelling evidence to start the trial and that, the bail application should be dismiss, saying it took the BNI four years to fish-out the accused and granting him bail on health grounds would aid him to run away forever since he knew where to hide .

The prosecutor also denied the allegation that the accused was not being fed well and denied access to a lawyer, stressing that the defence had been having conferences with the accused since the day he was arrested and sent to the BNI cells and was surprised of the defence allegation.

She also said, the accused was been fed daily as any normal person outside the cells and that, the security who arrested the accused wee human being and would not attempt to stave a fellow human being simply because he has been accused and vehemently denied the allegation and asked court to overrule the request by the defence to send the accused to prison.

After listening to both sides on the case, the trial judge, Mr. Justice Mustapha Habib Logo denied the accused bail and remanded in prison custody to reappear on June1, this year for trial.

However, The Enquirer later gathered some piece of information that the prosecution has requested that it would like to take the evidence in camera, because some of the witness would not like to be seen or known by the general public, especially the media.

Presenting the case before the court, the prosecutor, Mrs. Yvonne Obobisah said, about midnight on April 26, 2006, a vessel, the MV Benjamin; reportedly carrying about 77 parcels of cocaine docked at Kpone near Tema and discharged the cocaine.

 The prosecutor said, the 77 parcels were subsequently offloaded into a waiting vehicle which carried them away by the accused person and his accomplice only known as “Killer” to an unknown destination.

According to the Principal State Attorney, in the course of investigations, the accused name featured prominently as the importer and owner of the drug that was dogged at the paradise beach at Kpong, Tema.

The prosecutor further said, the accused was said to be the person who chartered the vessel at a cost of $150,000 to tow another vessel from Guinea to Ghana and also paid bribe to some policemen who initial got wind of the issue.
The accused, Christian Asem Darkei, also known as Sheriff Darkei, the prosecution noted, was the person who carted the alleged 77 parcels on the ship’s arrival at Kpone.
She said the accused went into hiding and was finally arrested at the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital upon a tip-off and brought to court for prosecution for his alleged role in the shipment and disappearance of the 77 parcels of cocaine saga in 2007.