Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong had his stars to thank after he narrowly escaped custodial sentence arising out of contempt of court.
The maverick MP lost his cool for a moment and insulted a lawyer in the ongoing 25 million Cedis defamation suit brought against him by investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
The lawmaker quickly realized his indiscretion and offered apologies to the presiding judge, Justice Eric Baah.
Justice Baah had drawn the MP’s attention to a possible custodial sentence arising out of contempt of court.
Mr Agyapong had been in court with his lawyers regarding a GH₵25 million defamation suit filed by Anas Aremeyaw Anas against him.
However, the legislator got infuriated when Odie Krow, one of the lawyers for the investigative journalist, described him as “incompetent” when he asked him to identify video evidence that the MP had submitted before the law court.
The MP, who responded angrily, described the lawyer as “foolish”.
In his submission, Mr Agyapong also argued that the description by the lawyer was an insult to him.
“The words he (counsel) used was an insult to me (Ken Agyepong). He earlier said I’m incompetent,” he said. “Who the hell do you think you are? I am a Member of Parliament. My Lord, he (counsel) is disrespecting me. Have you campaigned before?” the angry MP quizzed the lawyer in court.
However, Sammy Darko, another lawyer of Anas, rose to his feet and said that the action of the MP was a disrespect to the court and not necessarily against the lawyer.
Justice Eric Baah subsequently intervened to calm matters.
He explained that lawyers and witnesses address the court and not individuals.
Therefore, any indecent language used during court proceedings was against the dignity of the court.
The justice said, “I agree that the unprinted words used by the defendant are not acceptable, and I call on him to withdraw his words”.
The MP then admitted his wrongdoing and apologised to the court.
Source: GhanaFeed.Com