By Stephen Kwabena Effah
After barely a week in police custody, the woman at the centre of the controversial mass bus rape case, Amina Mohammed, was yesterday released on bail by the Accra Human Rights High Court.
The court granted her GH 5,000 bail with a surety, following an appeal filed by her counsel on Wednesday, against her remand by the Accra Circuit Court.
The prosecution did not oppose the appeal except to raise a preliminary objection which was overruled by the court.
The court presided over by Justice U.P. Dery, described the basis of the prosecution’s objection as unlawful, but the Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms. Gertrude Aikins, has indicated to the court she would appeal against the decision to overrule her objection.
Amina has pleaded not guilty to two counts of “publishing false news with intent to cause fear and alarm,” and “deceiving public officer,” at the Circuit Court, presided over by Mrs. Patience Mills-Tetteh.
The mother of three was invited by the police on October 30, to assist in investigations into her comments on a private radio station that male passengers on board a Tamale-bound bus on which she was travelling, were forced by armed robbers to rape the female passengers.
She was detained by the police until Tuesday, when the charges were preferred against her and she was put before court to be remanded.
Her remand followed the prosecution’s plea that granting her bail would compromise investigations into the case. It was also to ensure her own protection.
But Amina’s remand by the Circuit Court was described by her counsel as “wrong” and a “miscarriage of justice” because the offence was a misdemeanour.
When the case was called for the appeal to be moved, Ms. Aikins raised a preliminary objection that she had been short served and not given either the three or 21 clear days needed to respond to the appeal under the law.
She wondered whether the applicants were coming under the Civil Procedure Code or Article 33 of the constitution, adding “as we stand here we had less than 24 hours to be here”
But responding, Mr. Andy Appiah-Kubi, counsel for Amina said the application was not procedurally civil, adding that they were coming under the criminal procedure code, indicating that Order 67 Rule 4 does not apply.
The court thus overruled the objection and upheld Mr. Appiah-Kubi’s submission.
Moving his application for bail, Mr. Appiah-Kubi argued that per the information published by his client, she is an informant to the police.
He said the human rights of Amina under Article 14 (3) were abused by the police, having been detained by the police for 72 hours before she was put before court.
He contended that although the police invited her to assist in investigations, they later detained her without making it known to her, her offence and her right to be silent as well as her right to counsel.
“She has unlawfully been treated by the state and my lord, you have the power to protect her under the law,” Mr.Appiah-Kubi submitted.
He said evidence by the police nowhere suggested that Amina was part of the crime, adding, “she is a victim of the same crime”.
He told the court that Amina’s health was fast deteriorating, citing the fact that she was detained at the hospital for some time while she was in police, custody.
Mr.Appiah-Kubi said it was the first time that his client had been before any court and had no record of having committed a crime or jumped bail, adding she had a fixed abode and would always present herself for trial.
He said his client has no capacity to influence the machinery of the state neither does have the contacts of the prosecution witnesses nor live with them in the same vicinity.
Responding, Mrs. Aikins conceded that although Amina was arrested on the evening of October 30, she could not be arraigned because no court sat on weekends
She said the prosecution asked for her remand because of her own safety and protection noting that the tension at the time was so high that nobody knew what would have happened to her if she was granted bail.
She said “if counsel wants bail for her we don’t have anything to do with that”.
The prosecution said Amina, who lives at Ashaiman was hosted on Adom FM, a private radio station during which she said armed robbers attacked the bus on which she was travelling on October 11, at Kintampo, and forced the male passengers at gunpoint to rape the female passengers.
She said a man was also forced to defile his 14-year old daughter.
The comment, according to the prosecution, was subsequently carried by various newspapers and other radio stations, causing massive fear and panic among the public.
However, investigations had revealed that there was only an attempted armed robbery case reported at the Ejisu police station on October 12, on a Yutong bus with registration number GN 263-10.
The prosecution said the driver’s statement indicated that when they got to Kubease, near Ejisu, in the Ashanti Region at about 10: pm the robbers had formed a blockade on the road but he drove through it.
The armed robbers fired at the bus smashing the back windscreen, but the driver managed to report to the police after which the passengers continued their journey and arrived at their various destinations safely.
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