Ben
A juror strike last Monday, April 17, halted court proceedings in Accra. The strike affected cases such as the trial of 14 individuals accused of killing Major Maxwell Adam Mahama and two teenagers accused of murdering an 11-year-old boy in Kasoa.
According to a source, the jurors went on strike because the government had failed to pay them some allowances for over a year. As a result, one of the seven jurors was not at the trial of the 14 accused persons, leading to an adjournment of the case to May 8. In the Kasoa boy murder case, two jurors were absent, causing the case to be adjourned to the next day. Justice Lydia Marfo, the presiding judge, warned the jurors to appear before the court for the continuation of the trial.
In another case before Justice Marfo, five out of seven jurors failed to attend the trial. Under the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30), all jurors must be present during a trial by jury before proceedings can begin. Even though not all jurors had joined the strike, the absence of one juror was enough to halt court proceedings, according to the source.
Justice Marfo ordered the jurors to appear in court for the continuation of the trial and noted she had received no formal communication regarding the strike. She also questioned why the jurors in the trial of the teenagers had joined the strike when they were newly appointed jurors. As a result, she directed the Registrar of the Court to write to the superiors of the absentee jurors to produce them in court and show cause for their failure to appear for the hearing, despite being aware of their obligation to be present.
_
Source: Omanghana.com
