The Sekondi High Court has granted a GH¢50,000 bail to a Chinese captain and his crew who are on trial for allegedly throwing three Ivorian nationals into the sea.
Counsel for the accused told the court that per the laws of Ghana, under Section 118 of the Criminal Code, Act 30, the Attorney-General (A-G) could not initiate the prosecution of foreign nationals for offences committed in the country’s territorial waters without the consent of the President of the Republic.
He further stated that the accused were innocent of the crime and that before the A-G could initiate any legal proceeding of misdemeanour committed in the country’s territorial waters, it needed presidential consent.
Counsel, Mr Samuel Agbottah, continued that the evidence being used against his clients could be that of any of the numerous people who worked in the vessel at the port of Abidjan before they moved towards Ghana.
He said the captain of the vessel, Mr Li Zibin, had been a captain and worked in the maritime industry for more than 30 years and knew the implications involved in maltreating stowaways and as such would not do anything to the contrary.
The team of prosecutors, led by Ms Patience Klinogo, also argued that Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution empowered them to initiate legal action on behalf of the State.
However, Justice Oppong, who presided, said in his previous ruling he had refused the accused bail due to the nature of the offence but with the new development which required presidential consent, his reviewed ruling was to grant the accused captain and the crew members bail with a surety.
He also asked the accused to submit their passports to the law enforcement agencies.
Agents of National Security recently impounded a vessel and investigated a case of cruelty on the high seas in which three Ivorians were alleged to have been thrown into the ocean by the captain of a Chinese vessel.
But the captain of the vessel said the stowaways had not been on board his vessel and that he and his crew had searched the vessel four times before leaving the port of Abidjan.
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