The Presiding Judge in the prosecution of the defunct Capital Bank case, His Lordship, Eric Kyei Baffuor, has lashed out at lawyers of William Ato Essien for unduly delaying the case.
The unimpressed Judge has thus threatened to rescind Mr. Ato Essien’s bail to ensure that the Court gets his full cooperation in the prosecution of the matter.
Mr. Ato Essien has failed, with ample opportunity availed him, as conceded to by the lawyers in open court, to file his Witness Statement with the necessary disclosures on the number of witnesses he intends to call to his defence, if any.
Mr. Baffuor Gyau Bonsu Ashia admitted in open Court that “your lordship gave us over three weeks. You have afforded us a lot of opportunities to file.”
He however explained that “there are some vital documents we want to attach to our witness statement but have not been received. I received this document at 6:00 pm yesterday [Wednesday]”.
The visibly dissatisfied Justice Kyei Baffour insisted that the lawyers could have resorted to a subpoena to obtain the said documents.
He subsequently “reluctantly adjourned to January 27, 2022, for a case management conference, giving the lawyers a final two-week window to file the witness statement.
Justice Kyei Baffuor who ruled upon prayers from the lawyers said he was “holding in abeyance the invocation of the powers vested in the court to moderate and control its proceedings” to make the ruling.
