Ghana Jollof: Salomey Baffoe’s bail hearing adjourned to September 24

The High Court in Accra, hearing the bail application involving Salomey Baffoe, who has been accused of abetting the publication of false information by social media personality Ghana Jollof, has been adjourned to September 24.

The adjournment followed a request by the prosecution for more time to respond to the defence’s bail application.

An Assistant State Attorney, Carl Afedzi Forson, told the court that he was not the substantive attorney handling the matter and had been informed that the Attorney-General’s office was served with the bail application on Friday.

He explained that Monday was a public holiday and, as a result, the application had not yet been assigned to a lawyer within the office.

The prosecution consequently prayed the court for a short adjournment.

Opposing the request, counsel for Baffoe, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, argued that the matter concerned the liberty of the accused and should not be treated in the same manner as a civil proceeding requiring three clear days for service.

He maintained that there was proof that the prosecution had been served and noted that the State had not indicated that it had been short-served.

Counsel further argued that applications concerning the liberty of an accused person could be heard even over weekends and that the relevant period for such applications continued to run.

He submitted that the State had had sufficient time to respond and warned that further delay could render the bail application practically moot, as Baffoe would have spent two weeks in custody by the time the prosecution filed and served its response.

The court, in addressing the matter, noted that the liberty of the applicant was at stake and stressed that the State could not take the matter for granted.

The court subsequently adjourned the case to September 24, directing the Republic to file any processes it intended to rely on and serve them by 9:00 a.m.