Lawyer for the three persons who made contemptuous statements against Ghana’s Supreme Court judges has apologised on behalf of his clients ahead of their sentencing Wednesday, claiming the radio host and his two panelists are sorry for their unfortunate statements.
“We are expressing our apology sincerely, particularly to the Chief Justice, [and] Justice Gbadegbe whose names were specifically mentioned in the comments made by my clients,” the lawyer, Edudzie Tamaklo said Saturday morning.
Godwin Ako Gunn and Alistair Nelson (both radio panellists) together with radio host Salifu Maase were convicted last Monday by the Supreme Court after they were found guilty of contempt for threatening to kill the Supreme Court judges during a political talkshow on an Accra-based Montie FM.
The threat was said to have been prompted by the Supreme Court’s order to the Electoral Commission to remove the names of more than 56,000 persons who registered to vote in the 2012 general elections using National Health Insurance card as proof of identity.
The three, as well as owners of the radio station, are due for sentencing on Wednesday, July 27.
But ahead of the sentencing, Mr Tamakloe, says the convicts have shown remorse for their comments which received a lot of backlash from the public, and prayed the court to temper justice with mercy.
He said on Accra-based Joy FM: “we have retracted those statement and we do not wish to repeat them on any other medium. As you saw in court last time we even resisted the playing of those audio recordings.
“We are continuing in this supplication to their Lordships and the other Lord Justices and the whole judiciary that we are sincerely sorry for this. We’re also aware that my clients have any had any brush with the law, they are typically persons who you describe as first time offenders,” he said.
It is unclear the kind of sentencing the Court might hand them but some people are speculating they will be given jail term, with others calling for harsher punishment for them to serve as a deterrent to others.
By Martin Asiedu-Dartey|3news.com|Ghana
Twitter: @3newsgh