Court reprimands police

By BEVERLY PETER
MAGISTRATE Paul Puri Nii says administrative issues of the police and Correctional Institution Service (CIS) should not block detained suspects’ access to free and fair justice.
“This is the fifth time and almost four weeks the remandees at Bomana prison are yet to be brought to court,” Nii said.
“Apart from providing security to the citizens, one of the core functions of police is in prosecution,” he said.
The magistrate said this was not the first time he heard that there was no transport to take accused persons from Bomana prison to court.
“I’m already sick and tired of hearing and seeing the accused becoming the meat in the sandwich by police and CIS inaction to transport them to the courthouse.
“I want the Police administration to speed up support for their prosecution section by providing transport (vehicles) so that will enable them to do their jobs in the courts and the work of transportation of suspects in and out of the courts,” he added.
Nii said he wanted to see all the suspects brought to court starting next week and onwards.
“If I hear the same old stories then I will summon the police hierarchy to come to court to explain why they have been wasting the court’s time and denying justice for suspects for the last four weeks,” he said.
Nii then ordered Police Prosecutor Peter Samgy to enquire with the officer-in-charge of transport at the Police Department, director of transport, assistant commissioner of police (logistics) and deputy commissioner (administration) as to why the prisoners were not being brought to court.
He said there were a lot of police vehicles roaming around the streets and yet there was no vehicle to bring suspects to court.
He said this when a case against a 22-year-old man charged with wilful murder was mentioned but could not proceed after Samgy advised the court that the accused had not been brought from Bomana prison because there was no vehicle available.
Nii then adjoined the case and others to Tuesday (April 9) and told Samgy to inform the court of the response from the police administration in relation to the issue of transportation for prisoners.