25 Remand prisoners freed

Twenty-five remand prisoners have been acquitted and discharged  under  the Access to Justice Remand Prisoners Project IV 2014 in Sekondi-Takoradi in the Western Region.

Sixteen others were also granted bail to appear before courts in the metropolis.

One of the beneficiaries of the project  was  Osman Mohammed, who was arrested in October, last year  for possessing narcotics without authority, contrary to the laws of Ghana and had since been on remand at the Sekondi Central Prisons.

However, at the special court sitting at the prisons  compound  on Wednesday, the Presiding Judge, Mr Justice John Ajet-Nassam, acquitted and discharged  Mohammed because he had  problems with his health.

At  another  sitting at the Prisons Court 1, a couple, Yaw Ackah and Irene Quainoo, who had been on remand for some years now without  trial  for an alleged murder  were also acquitted and discharged.

Quainoo, after the pronouncement by the judge, burst into tears. It took the Judge  and some prison officers to calm  her down.

Also freed was  Kwabena Tachiwa  who had been on remand since 2003 on suspicion of   murder  while Musah Mohammed , a suspected  robber, was discharged but warned by Justice Constant Hometowu, who sat on the case  with Justice Taylor, to be of  good behaviour.

The Access to Justice Project seeks to alleviate  overcrowding in prisons by setting up special courts to adjudicate remand prisoner cases throughout the country.

The process involves  the judiciary, the office of the Attorney-General, the Ghana Prison Service and the Ghana Bar Association (GBA).

It is expected that the exercise will  result in a measurable reduction in the number of prisoners currently on remand in prisons across the country.

Since the project started in 2007, a total of 1,980 cases had  been handled. Out of the number, 496 remand  prisoners  had received their freedom, 477 granted bail while 41 had also been convicted to serve various prison terms.