The Court Of Appeal has dismissed the application filed by counsel for Kennedy Agyapong, the Member of Parliament for Assin Central, to Adduce Fresh Evidence to an Appeal case against an earlier judgment on defamation brought on by the Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading, Abdul Malik Kwaku Baako.
The Court dismissed the application on Wednesday, after hearing the arguments by counsel for Kennedy Agyapong (Applicant), Ralph Agyapong, and Dennis Adjei Dwomoh with Addai Mintah Emmanuel as counsels for the Editor-in-Chief (Respondent).
Counsel for the Applicant argued that the document he sought to rely on as fresh evidence established the involvement of the Respondent in the operation of galamsey. He further averred that the document was authentic, confidential, and same could not have been procured by him during the trial at the High Court.
According to him, the report was made available on 19 March 2021, and the judgment of the High Court was delivered on the 26 June, 2020.
Counsel for the Respondent then responded that an appeal is by way of rehearing and as such the Court of Appeal being an appellate court sits in the same position as the trial court.
Hence the appellate court could only consider evidence that was made available to the trial court. Thus, the Applicant was inviting the court to admit evidence that was non-existent at the time the judgment was delivered by the High Court and apply same retrospectively to impeach the decision of the High Court.
Mr. Baako’s lawyers also argued that the Applicant had failed to satisfy the conditions precedent that ought to be satisfied by an Applicant before an appellate court would grant an applicant leave to adduce fresh evidence on appeal.
The court further indicated however, that it would give a detailed ruling on the application and the decision should be picked from the Registry of the Court of Appeal on 13 July, 2023.
Recall that the Court of Appeal had scheduled 11 May, 2023 to deliver its judgment on the appeal filed against the 26 June, 2020 judgement of the High Court which was in favour of Abdul Malik Kweku Baako in his defamation suit against the Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, for defamation.
Six days prior to the scheduled judgment day, however, Mr. Agyapong caused his lawyer to file an application to adduce fresh evidence; a development which virtually “arrested” the delivery of the anticipated judgment by the Court of Appeal.
Subsequently, the application was fixed for hearing on 5 July, 2023 by a different Panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal.
Stay tuned…
