Trial of Issa Mobilla: Witness Sheds tears In Court

The trial of the Infamous Issa Mobilla murder case begun in earnest at an Accra Fast Track high court with the swearing in of a six member all male jury to adjudicate the case. Consequently the state has started calling witnesses in the case. Represented by Penelop Mamatah the state indicated to Justice Sena Dzamefaļæ½s court that they intend to call (9) witnesses to prosecute their case beyond reasonable doubt. The two soldiers accused of the murder of Alhaji Mobilla, ex-Northern Regional Chairman of the Convention People's Party (CPP) appeared calmly in court on Wednesday March 17. Corparal Yaw Appiah and Private Eric Modzaka pleaded not guilty to the two counts of charges leveled against them. The charges as relayed by the state are conspiracy to commit murder and committing murder. The trial only got underway after Justice Senyo Dzamefa overruled an objection raised by counsel for the accused that they have some pending issues of the propriety of not presenting them with the names of the jurors both at the Supreme Court and the appeals court. Presenting the fact of the case Penelop Mamatah relayed to the court a horrible account of how Alhaji Issah Mobilla met his untimely death after reporting himself to the police on the 9th of December 2004. She expressed the confidence that the state would prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the two soldiers in question virtually murdered Alhaji Issah Mobilla. The first witness Saha Naa Abubukar Abdul Latif broke down in tears in court whilst testifying about how he accompanied Mobilla to the police in the morning of December 9th 2004, in good health only to learn the following day that he was dead after being transferred to the Kamina Barracks in Tamale on the instructions of the police. He recounted that when he represented the family during the autopsy, he noticed that Issah Mobilla might have been brutalized. Detective Lance Corporal Matheus Abonore formerly of the Tamale Regional Police CID was the second to appear, he recounted that in the company of one Detective Mensah and Seagent Kokpor on the instructions of their Regional Crime Officer handed Issah Mobilla to the soldiers at Kamina Barracks and identified Corproal Yaw Appiah as one of the persons who received Mobilla in good health. He disclosed that Corporal Yaw Appiah instructed the deceased to undress and also kicked him at the back whilst retorting how they would punish him moments after they handed over Alhaji Mobilla to the soldiers. During cross examination Counsel for the accused Thadius Sorry insisted that the story of Detective Abonore was not true, an assertion the detective denied vehemently. The case has been adjourned to Thursday March 18, when the state is expected to call to the witness box, other persons.