Court Strikes Out Stay Applications, Upholds Defence Objection in Charles Bissue Case
A court has struck out applications for a stay of proceedings and to arrest its earlier ruling on an in-camera hearing, after counsel for the third accused person, Dr Naa Dedei Tagoe, withdrew both applications.
The applications were scheduled for hearing alongside arguments on the prosecution’s first witness.
However, when the matter was called on June 9, 2026, the counsel for the third accused informed the court of her intention to withdraw the applications.
The court subsequently struck them out as withdrawn.
In a related ruling delivered on Tuesday, the court also upheld an objection raised by the defence and struck out portions of the prosecution’s first witness statement.
The objection, filed on 3 February 2026, targeted paragraphs that referenced interactions between the witness and convicted person Andy Thomas Owusu.
The Defence lawyers argued that the portions constituted hearsay since Mr Owusu is neither an accused person nor a witness in the current proceedings.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor opposed the objection, contending that the events had already been judicially established through Owusu’s earlier conviction.
The prosecution further stated it intended to tender real-time video evidence of the interactions, which it said made the evidence direct rather than hearsay.
After considering arguments from both sides, the court ruled in favour of the accused persons and expunged the portions of the witness statement that referenced Andy Thomas Owusu from the record.
The current case stems from a subsequent charge filed by the OSP following Owusu’s conviction and the discovery of fresh evidence.
Because he had already been convicted in earlier proceedings, Mr Owusu was not included among the accused persons in the new case.
The case has been adjourned to Thursday, June 11, 2026, for continuation of proceedings, including the hearing of the prosecution’s first witness.
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