Ekow Micah
Popular reggae musician and President of the Music Council of Ghana, Ekow Micah is still on remand and would reappear before court tomorrow Wednesday August 26 to continue his trial after police found in his procession some dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp.
An Accra Circuit Court on Monday threw out a request for a two week adjournment filed by his lawyers who said they needed the adjournment to enable them prepare adequately for his defense.
His counsel, John David Percey, was empathic that the case was a delicate one with new emerging developments, contending that certain interesting points of law had come up.
However, the trial judge, Aboagye Tandoh rejected the request for adjournment and indicated that the set date for hearing-August 26, 2015 was fair to all parties.
Chief Inspector Edward Afful holding brief for Commissioner of Police (ACP) Moses Atibilla who was not in court for the trial to commence said there was an emergency ACP Atibilla had to attend.
Charged with the possession of narcotic drugs, Micah, 43, of ‘Me Si Wu Hemaa’ fame was said to have told the Police that he smokes the alleged dried leaves in order to stimulate him in his music career.
Micah has, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The facts of the case are that Micah is a resident of Ogbojo, near Kokrobitey in Accra and that on August 4, this year; Micah was arrested by the Airport Police over an alleged extortion case currently under investigation.
ACP Atibillah said the following day, at about 11:30 hours, the Police and Micah who wears dreadlocks visited his (Micah’s) house to conduct a search and in the process, a quantity of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp was found concealed in Micah s “back pack”.
The senior police officer stated that the popular reggae musician and President of the Music Council of Ghana admitted ownership of the exhibit and told the police that he smokes the substance to stimulate his music career.
Prosecution said the exhibit was being forwarded to the Police Forensic Crime laboratory for examination.
Legal practitioner, Adusei Poku, has opined that if found guilty of the offense, Ekow Micah may serve up to a five year jail term with hard labour.
“Mr Micah has been charged with a narcotics-related offence but the offence is in respect of possession, it is different from when you are exporting it; that carries a different sentence in law and it is normally seen as non-bailable…For smoking or possession in your room for use which has been detected, that is bailable and the maximum sentence is five years”, Mr. Adusei Poku told Hitz Fm.
jeffdegraft44@yahoo.com
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson