Court revokes bail for estate developer, two others

An Accra Circuit Court presided over by His Honour Samuel Bright Acquah, has revoked the bail condition of an estate developer, James Okine and two others for disrespecting its orders.

The court revoked the bail for the three on March 20, 2023 after it was informed by Inspector Da Costa Bobie Ansah, holding brief for Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong, that James Okine, Stephen Okutu Kofi alias Kofi Santos and Benjamin Djanker aka Asaa, had not being reporting to the police as it had ordered.

Mr. Acquah remanded the three men into police custody when they appeared before him.

James Okine, first accused (A1), Stephen Okutu Kofi (A5) and Benjamin Djanker (A6) are standing trial together with Abubakar Issah (A2), Kamach Yeboah (A3) and Ali Amadu (A4).

They have been accused of conspiracy to commit a crime and unlawful protection of land contrary to Section 23 (1) of the Criminal Offence Act 1960 (Act 29) and Section 12 of Land Act 2020 (Act 1036). They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The case has been adjourned to March 28, 2023.

The facts

When the case was called on January 7, 2023, the court was informed by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong that the complainant was Godrich Ardey, a businessman who resides at Katamanso in the jurisdiction of the court.

He added that James Okine, Abubakar Issah, Kamack Yeboah and Ali Amadu are residents of Zenu-Ashaiman, Teiman and Oyibi..

ASP Oppong told the court that two other people, Stephen Okutu Kofi and Benjamin Djanker, who should be standing trial with the accused persons were at large.

According to the prosecuting officer, on January 3, 2023, the complainant reported to the police that his family owned 1.625.474 acres of land at Katamanso with a land title certificate covering the said land.

In addition to the land title certificate, the complainant also produced a Power of Attorney from his family to back his claims.

To verify the documents submitted by the accused, he said police investigation had revealed that the complainant’s family had the said land in their possession for several decades.

However, the court was informed that the complainant’s family had also leased portions of the land to some estate companies who have built houses on the land without any challenges.

Meanwhile, the police were informed that the first accused, who is also the owner of Greenlake Estate, had recruited land guards unto their family land who protected him and his workers, while they were unlawfully grading the land to commence development.

The prosecutor told the court that on January 5, 2023, the police visited the scene with the complainant and found Kamack and Amadu using a pay loader machine to grade the complainant’s family land under the protection of Abubakar Issah, Stephen Okutu Kofi and Benjamin Djanker.

He stated that Kamack Yeboah and Ali Amadu were arrested. James Okine followed up during investigation and was also arrested. On the count of this, they were charged and put before court.

 

Source: The Chronicle