A confession by the suspected murderer of Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, J.B. Danquah that he was contracted by some members of the New Patriotic Party to commit the act is nonsense, editor-in-chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper has said.
Malik Kweku Baako Jnr says similar occurrences in the past make it difficult for any reasonable person to acknowledge such confessions, especially when the suspect on trial is yet to appear in the dock.
“But for the fact that this was said in court, I would have ignored it with contempt. It appears to me to be total rubbish but because it was said in court, I am not going to run away from it,” he said on Joy FM’s news analysis programme, Newsfile.
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Daniel Asiedu who is standing trial with another suspect for the murder gave a voluntary confession to the court early this week that he was contracted by some persons within the NPP to murder the Abuakwa North MP.
In his confession, the accused also said after his arrest the alleged persons who contracted him approached him to accuse certain persons within the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of hiring him.
Daniel Asiedu further added that a promise by his contractors to get him freed when the NPP comes to power has not been met hence his decision to spill the beans.
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After the judge asked whether he was making the confession because of the promise or out of a threat, Daniel Asiedu, nicknamed Sexy Don Don, said he is making the confession because he is now a changed person and wants the truth to be out.
But Mr Baako found this laughable. He suspects the accused might have been coached to make the confession.
“In prison, some sort of coaching goes on there,” he said, adding “they also listen to the news, they read newspapers, they hear all sorts of things and they have friends there…very organised convicts who have been there for years.
“Some of them are better than lawyers and judges, they know the judicial system… they listen to things going on and they try to weave it into their system,” he added.
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The veteran journalist said past incidents have made it difficult for him, personally, to believe confessions of such nature from convicts but said it was important for it to be subjected to all the needed scrutiny by the court.
Following the suspects’ confession, however, his lawyer, Yaw Obuor has come to say his client was mentally unstable.
“I can tell you and I’ve said it that he has a mental problem, I applied for bail for him last week but the bail was refused. He’s aware that we were going to apply for bail for him again, it will be filed early next week,” he said in an interview with Joy FM.
J.B. Danquah was murdered at his home in 2016
But even that does not sit right with Mr Baako. He questioned why the lawyer is now making such revelations almost two years into the investigations.
“Why hasn’t he told the court all this while,” he queried, asking for earlier statements made by the suspect to be cross-examined all over again.
He, however, maintains that the confession is “rubbish, it will get nowhere. Unless and until there is something of evidential value to back it I will remain absolutely and eternally skeptical …I don’t believe the guy’s story.”
Effutu MP, Afenyo Markin, who also contributed to the discussion, said the confession will have no implications because they are of no evidential value.
“Under our criminal jurisprudence, at this stage where a bail of indictment is being prepared, committal processes are being carried out. The man is not even in a witness box giving evidence so I even wonder how he is making these statements.
“Because prosecution is not leading evidence, there is no cross examination…so within the confines of the law, I don’t see how that statement will operate,” he explained.
The lawyer also chastised politicians for playing into the game by blaming each other when one of their own has been brutally murdered.
