OSP Directed to Provide Caution Statements in Dapaah Theft Case

In a landmark ruling, the High Court in Accra has ordered the Office of the Special Prosecutor to provide the former house help of Cecilia Dapaah, Patience Botwe, with caution and charge statements in respect of Dapaah and her husband. This was in a criminal trial over the alleged theft of huge sums of money from the residence of Dapaah.

This follows an application by Botwe for the release of some vital investigation documents, which she maintained were required for her defense. Her lawyers had told the court that such statements were necessary to enable them to cross-examine Dapaah and her husband.

For the first time, OSP declined to furnish the documents sought by Botwe under the RTI Act, invoking various exemptions under the Act. Thereafter, her counsel moved the High Court for the said documents, stating that these were necessary for a fair trial.

Justice Marie-Louis Simmons threw out the claims despite objections from the OSP on grounds of jurisdictional defects and also for belatedness in applying. She emphasized the right to adequate defense by the accused and the right of the accused to interrogate prosecution witnesses, as guaranteed by Article 19(2)(e)(g) of the 1992 Constitution. Justice Simmons referred to the precedent set by the Supreme Court in the Baffoe Bonnie case, underlining the principle of access to material to mount a proper defense.

While the court granted Botwe access to the caution statements, it refused her access to recordings and transcripts of interrogations of Dapaah and her husband. The point that has emerged clearly in this decision is one involving a critical balance between the rights of the accused and the procedural safeguards in criminal trials, all under the mantle of the judiciary's role in upholding justice.