Afoko’s murder trial begins today

The trial of Gregory Afoko, the man indicted for the murder of the Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Adams Mahama, is set to begin at the Acca High Court on Tuesday.

The trial was supposed to start on March 23, 2016 but was rescheduled to Tuesday due to the absence of the trial judge, Mr Justice Lawrence L. Mensah.

Mr Justice Mensah is a Court of Appeal judge, with additional jurisdiction over the High Court, but he presides over cases at the Court of Appeal on Wednesdays and not the High Court.

As a result of the development, the prosecutor, Mr Mathew Amponsah, a Chief State Attorney and Afoko’s legal team agreed on the new date.

The Accra District Court, on February 22, 2016, committed Afoko to stand trial at the High Court.

That was after the court had ruled at the committal proceedings that based on the evidence presented; there was a “compelling case for the accused to answer at the High Court”.

Afoko and Asabke Alangdi have been charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit crime and murder.

A third accomplice, Musa Issa, was granted bail after the Attorney-General had advised that there was not enough evidence to charge him.