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Ho court adjourns trial of 14 alleged separatists to June 24

The Ho Circuit Court will on June 24 decide on the issue of bail regarding the 14 alleged activists of the separatist Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) who were arrested in Sovie recently and charged with prohibited organisation.

The court, presided over by Mr Felix Datsomor, fixed the date when the accused persons made their second appearance before it yesterday.

The accused persons are David Karl, 41; Francis Dente Donkor, 41; Edem Akubea, 36; Edem Nukornu, 35 and Faustina Britsie, 60.

Others are Carsmeil Doste, 41; Richard Akli, 25; Kwami Dziwornu, 35; Wisdom Ametefe, 36 and Ernestina Akogo, 26.

The rest are Emmanuel Akorli, 31; Jacinta Kugblenu, 25; Stephen Attu, 32 and Francis Adzogah, 26.

They all pleaded not guilty and were taken back into police custody.

Inspector S. M. Atidzon, told the court that members of the group have been organising secret meetings for sometime now, to advocate the cause of the HSGF.

The prosecution said that at about 9am on May 30, this year, the accused persons who are all members of the secessionist group held a similar meeting again at Sovie, with about 50 people to discuss their strategies on how to take control of parts of Ghana, which the group unlawfully declared independent in November, last year at a rally in Ho.

The prosecution said that while the meeting was in progress at Sovie in an uncompleted building, personnel of 66 Artillery Regiment in Ho and personnel of other security agencies swooped on the activists at the venue.

Upon seeing the security personnel the activists took to their heels, the court heard.

According to the prosecution, the security personnel chased the activists and arrested the 14 of them, while others managed to escape.

The court heard that some dairies and exercise books which were retrieved from the scene contained minutes of their previous meeting.

Meanwhile, one of the alleged activists, Efo Yao, is at large, the court was told.

Source: Ghanaian Times

News

Committee probing petitions against Chief Justice to begin hearings tomorrow

The Committee set up by President John Dramani Mahama to inquire into three petitions filec against the Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, will commence hearings tomorrow, Thursday May 15, 2025.

The five-member Committee chaired by Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang of the Supreme Court, was set up by the President in accordance with Article 146(6) of the 1992 constitution and in consultation with the Council of State, following a determination of a prima facie case against the Chief Justice.

The committee will sit three times a week and present their recommendations to the President upon completion of their work.

It would be recalled that President John Dramani Mahama recently suspended Chief Justice following the establishment of a prima facie case in response to three separate petitions seeking her removal from office.

News

38-year-old man gets life imprisonment for killing Assemblies of God pastor in 2018

After close to seven years of trial, a seven-member jury on Wednesday, May 14, returned a guilty verdict in the murder case involving the killing of the Senior Pastor of the Central Assemblies of God church at Tema in 2018.

The convict, Francis Nabegmado, a relative of the deceased, inflicted a fatal knife wound on Rev. Dr. David Nabegmado on December 30, 2018, after alleging that the senior pastor was a false preacher who engaged in idol worship and human sacrifices.

After an hour of summing up by the judge, Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, the jury retired briefly and returned with a unanimous guilty verdict.

Based on the unanimous verdict of the jurors who had previously studied the statements of the five witnesses called by the prosecution, and listened to the summing up process, the judge sentenced the 38-year-old to life imprisonment.

When he was offered an opportunity to comment on the verdict, the convict told the judge that he wanted to go home to meet his family.

“My Lady, I want to see my family, and I want to be taken to Yendi”.

When the judge told him she couldn’t make such an order for him to go and see his family in Yendi, the convict forcefully said, “I insist”.

Francis, who will now spend the rest of his life at the Nsawam medium security prison, had told the court throughout the trial that the decision to attack his uncle, Rev. Nebegmado, was driven by insanity, but that did not save him from receiving a life sentence.

Speaking briefly after the sentencing, Senior Pastor of the Assemblies of God church at Tema Community 4, Rev. Emmanuel Kwesi Ofori, said the church has been waiting for this closure for the past seven years and will soon issue an official statement.

Source: Myjoyonline.com