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Man freed after 4 years on remand

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A 40-year-old trader who has been on remand at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison for four years without trial, breathed fresh air on Wednesday when he was freed by an Accra Circuit Court for want of prosecution. The accused, Samuel Amoako, was arrested by a highway patrol team on November 9, 2006, for possessing dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp. Although he pleaded not guilty when he was first arraigned, he was not tried and had been on remand since then. When he was brought to court yesterday by prison officers, the court was informed that the prosecutor handling the case could not be traced. The presiding judge, Mr C.A. Wilson, subsequently discharged him for want of prosecution. Amoako was arrested with seven wrappers of suspected Indian hemp concealed in a commercial car seat on which he sat, but he denied knowledge of the substance during interrogation. According to Amoako, he boarded the vehicle with other passengers from Toh, a suburb of Ho in the Volta Region, and when they got to a police check-point on the route, a search conducted on the vehicle revealed the substances which were hidden in the seat he sat on. At yesterday's sitting, could not recall the actual date on which he was put before court, but said it was not too long after his arrest. Following this, the judge said the right of the accused person was being infringed upon and he needed to be treated fairly. Source: The Ghanaian Times

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.