Chief Justice Kwesi Anin-Yeboah today cautioned lead lawyer for second respondent in the ongoing election petition, Lawyer Akoto Ampaw, over interjections when members of the bench are speaking.
“Counsel, is it not a practice that if a judge is speaking counsel should keep quiet?” the CJ asked as the lawyer sought to continue a submission when the CJ was making a point. “Well noted,” the lawyer responded.
Before the caution, the CJ had told Akoto Ampaw that every paragraph in a witness statement under consideration stood on its own, to which Akoto Ampaw replied: “they are connected.”
Akoto Ampaw was making submissions on why certain portions of the witness statement of the petitioner’s third witness, Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, needed to be struck out before cross-examination continued.
Mettle-Nunoo is testifying away from the court via a video link due to a health condition. He filed his witness statement yesterday ahead of today’s sitting.
The court dispatched a judicial officer to his location after Akoto Ampaw raised the issue of possible ‘coaching’ of the witness.
Source: GhanaWeb