Trial Of Limping Man To Finally Commence On Friday

The trial of Christian Asem Dake, alias Limping Man, the prime suspect in the importation of the 77 parcels of cocaine in the infamous MV Benjamin Vessel, will finally commence this Friday, June 1, at an Accra Fast Track High Court where he has been slapped with five fresh charges. The state prosecutor, Mrs Yvonne Obuobisa, who announced this in court yesterday, said the state had completed all the necessary investigations and was ready to commence prosecution. She however told the court that the state would like to make an application on Friday to take evidence or hear the case in camera. Information gathered by The Finder indicates that the witnesses who had agreed to give evidence in court would not want their faces to be seen and had therefore requested to either disguise themselves or give evidence in the judge�s chamber. Asem Dake yesterday pleaded not guilty to five fresh charges of conspiracy to transport narcotics without lawful authority, importation of narcotics without license from the Ministry of Health, possession of narcotic, undertaking prohibited business in relation to narcotic and corruption of public officer. Mr George Heward-Mills, counsel for the accused person, prayed the court to grant his client bail, adding that the facts of the case were just fabrications. He said the state had continuously sought for adjournment since his client was arrested at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on February 2 and that the health of his client was at stake. �My client has been kept in the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) cells since his arrest and from what he tells me he is not being fed well; we have made complaints about this very issue before when he was standing trial at the Circuit Court. He says he is only given a third of what he is supposed to eat,� he added. Mr Heward-Mills told the court that the act of the BNI officials was to put his clients through a psychological trauma so he could make certain confessions. He prayed the court to remand the accused person in police custody where his family would be allowed to feed him well and in order for him (Heward-Mills) to have access to his client for further action and instructions. He recounted to the court the difficulties he had to go through in order to have access to the accused person, adding that �all those standing trial in court are being kept in prison or police custody except my client who is still being kept at the BNI.� But Mrs Obuobisa told the court that the accused person was still in the custody of the BNI because the arrest was being investigated by officials of the BNI and not the police.