<<Print>>

The Human Rights Court would on Tuesday January 31, hear an application for bail pending trial of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mrs Gifty Mawuenyaga Tehoda, currently in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI). Mr Anthony Rexford Wiredu, Principal State Attorney, prayed the Court to adjourn the matter to Wednesday because he had just returned from a trip. According to him, the Attorney General (A-G) was served last Friday therefore, he needed to respond to their application. Mr E.A. Vordoagu, who held brief for Mr Oliver Dzeble, counsel for the Police officer, indicated to the court that the Attorney General was served on January 25 and an affidavit of service could attest to that. According to Mr Vordoagu, the A-G has sufficiently been served hence the Court should not entertain any adjournment. He said the BNI, Ghana Police Service and A-G had all been served and quizzed why the BNI had refused to produce DSP Tehoda. Mr Vordoagu complained of their inability to have access to DSP Tehoda saying that was their greatest challenge. The Court presided over Mr Justice Eseel Mensah adjourned the matter to Tuesday, January 31, to hear parties in the matter. DSP Tehoda has been remanded into custody by an Accra Circuit Court on the offence of abetting to stealing of cocaine. DSP who has denied the offence is expected to re-appear before the Circuit Court on February 6. DSP Tehoda, Head of Crime Unit at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters, had been detained by the BNI for alleged suspicious dealings with Nana Ama Martins, who was at the centre of the recent cocaine-turned-sodium bicarbonate saga. She was picked up on December 29, 2011, after investigators from the BNI established suspicious dealings between her and Nana Martins, and had since been in the custody of the BNI. An ex-parte motion on a writ of Habeas Corpus was filed against the BNI and the Attorney General to produce the body of the Senior Police officer in court and show cause as to why she was being detained. Consequently, she was put before the Court which noted that she had not been charged with any offence and based on that the court admitted her to bail in fulfilment of Article 14 (4) of the 1992 Constitution. This follows the Human Rights Court granting DSP Tehoda a GHC50,000 bail with two sureties to be justified.