Crime Correspondent: Accra

Isaac Abeidu Aidoo, aka Goodies, has dispensed with the services of his counsel in his narcotic trial.

Isaac Abeidu Aidoo, aka Goodies, has dispensed with the services of his counsel in his narcotic trial.At the court’s sitting yesterday, the counsel, Mr Jah Jossiah, informed the court that he had withdrawn from the case as counsel. The counsel did not tell the court the reasons for his withdrawal but he confided in journalists that Goodies said he no longer needed his services. Following the withdrawal of the counsel, Goodies appealed for a short adjournment to enable him secure the services of another counsel and the court obliged him and adjourned the case to next Friday. Goodies on July 8, 2008, pleaded not guilty to possession of narcotics and the court remanded him in prison custody to re-appear on August 11, 2008. However, when the case was called on the adjourned date, the court was informed that Goodies was sick and, therefore, was not brought to court. The case was again adjourned to August 25, 2008 and during its sitting, the accused person was not brought to court. His counsel informed the court that his client had not been well. The judge, Mr Mahamadu Iddrisu, was not pleased with the turn of events and why for two consecutive occasions the accused could not attend court and the court had not been furnished with any proof. The judge said the way things were going he might be compelled to find out whether indeed Goodies was in custody as ordered by the court. He, therefore, adjourned the case to enable the accused to be brought to court. According to the prosecution, Goodies swallowed 80 pellets of cocaine and attempted to smuggle them to the United Kingdom. At about 10.45 p.m. on April 23, this year, when Goodies arrived at the Kotoka International Airport to board a Ghana International Airlines flight to London, operatives of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) suspected him of carrying drugs in his stomach.Goodies was, therefore, escorted to the 37 Military Hospital for an X-ray, which revealed that he had some foreign materials in his stomach. He was subsequently arrested and put under surveillance and, in the process, he expelled 80 pellets of a whitish substance suspected to be cocaine. Goodies informed the police during interrogation that one Abdul Haid, a musician residing at East Legon, Accra, had given him the drugs to be delivered to one Willie, for a fee of $3,000.

Isaac Abeidu Aidoo, aka Goodies, has dispensed with the services of his counsel in his narcotic trial.

Isaac Abeidu Aidoo, aka Goodies, has dispensed with the services of his counsel in his narcotic trial.At the court’s sitting yesterday, the ...

Yasemin Vatansever and Yatunde Diya to be freed

Yasemin Vatansever and Yatunde Diya, both 17 and from north London, were given year-long sentences by a court in Accra after their arrests l...

Yasemin Vatansever and Yatunde Diya are being held in a correctional home for girls in Accra should be released July 17

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlkp94b4SxQCbzNvr46-gYe3zANyvGDoHhk8LM535cxWU50xLcyo3sEsmVWwbdvWGPXwJwCGD5-AKGD2-azT5Lms4_VX2-phWf0RVVjgke25n7cXLrvNeqoD_NHkMs_94paD25s6ZgGmU/s1600-h/41B3F830D218E14FAC7816EFr.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192709184856558498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlkp94b4SxQCbzNvr46-gYe3zANyvGDoHhk8LM535cxWU50xLcyo3sEsmVWwbdvWGPXwJwCGD5-AKGD2-azT5Lms4_VX2-phWf0RVVjgke25n7cXLrvNeqoD_NHkMs_94paD25s6ZgGmU/s320/41B3F830D218E14FAC7816EFr.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a> Two teenage British girls sentenced in January by a Ghana court to one year in prison for smuggling cocaine will serve the full 12 months of their sentence and should be released July 17, a lawyer told AFP today.The sentence included time already served and a British diplomat said at the time of the sentencing the two girls, now aged 17, were likely to be released April 18 as they would qualify for a three-month reduction."The defence lawyer told us that once the girls were sentenced to one year, it would mean nine months as a three-month remission would routinely be allowed provided there was good behaviour," said Sabine Zanker, a lawyer with Fair Trials Abroad, the Britain-based body that provided legal representation for the girls."Until two or three weeks before April 18 it was his understanding they would be released" on that date, she told AFP by telephone from London."But the prison authorities said the reduction would not be applicable to juveniles. The rationale behind this is that the idea of rehabilitation is more important than punishment," Zanker continued.Yasemin Vatansever and Yatunde Diya are being held in a correctional home for girls in Accra.The two were stopped with 300,000 pounds worth of cocaine on July 2 last year, during a joint Ghanaian-British narcotics operation, British officials have said.They had entered the country in late June and been due to board a British Airways flight back to London when they were arrested.

Yasemin Vatansever and Yatunde Diya are being held in a correctional home for girls in Accra should be released July 17

Two teenage British girls sentenced in January by a Ghana court to one year in prison for smuggling cocaine will serve the full 12 months o...