Eric Asante petitions GES for reinstatement
Human Rights Lawyer, Francis Xavier Sosu, has petitioned the Ghana Education Service (GES) to reinstate Mr Eric Asante, the 40-year-old teacher who was wrongfully convicted of defiling and impregnating a 14-year-old girl, into the service.
Advertisement
The petition presented to the GES last Friday is also asking for the payment of salary arrears and other allowances due Mr Asante from February 1, 2005 to date.
It is also urging the GES to consider an appropriate ranking (promotion) due Mr Asante for the period as he was wrongly incarcerated.
Similar petitions have been sent to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) so they can assist in reinstating Mr Asante into the service with all his appropriate benefits.
Exoneration
On Thursday, January 26, 2017, the Supreme Court acquitted and discharged Mr Asante who was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labour by the Tamale High Court in September 2005.
The five-member panel, presided over by Justice Annin Yeboah, ruled that the High Court considered the pregnancy as corroborative evidence but did not take steps to ascertain whether Mr Asante was responsible for the pregnancy or not.
“In this case, the victim met the medical doctor within 48 hours of the alleged intercourse but no effort was made to examine her vagina for possible medical evidence of penetration. The evidence of the victim is that on the November 12, 2003, the appellant requested her to take books to his house after close of classes.
“It is inconceivable that no pupil in the class saw the victim take the books to the house of the teacher. The victim herself mentioned to a friend whom she left her books with on the day she allegedly went to the appellant’s house for the first time that they had sexual intercourse. Why did the prosecution not produce this friend of the victim to confirm her story of visiting him in his house?” the Apex court questioned.
According to the court, there was a hint of doubt as to whether it was the appellant who was responsible for the pregnancy, when during the cross-examination of the victim it was suggested to her that she had complained to a friend that her auntie’s husband was sexually abusing her, which she denied.
“When the auntie’s husband was under cross-examination, the court upheld an objection against him being cross-examined on that matter. Counsel for the appellant at the trial stage failed to refer the court to the earlier questions put to the victim herself and also did not pursue that matter.”
The court ruled that the DNA evidence which proved that Mr Asante was not the father of the said child did tremendous damage to the credibility of the victim, adding that the victim was not truthful in her testimony; and that her testimony lacked merit for the trial judge to conclude that it was Mr Asante who defiled her.
After the judgment, counsel for Mr Asante, Mr Sosu, prayed the court to give an order that would award compensation to his client.
The court, however, directed him to make a formal application that his client was seeking compensation.
Application for compensation
In an interview with The Mirror, Mr Sosu said the petition to get his client reinstated into the GES would be followed by an application for compensation from the state.
“The GES terminated his appointment and stopped paying his salary and other benefits because of his incarceration, now that the Supreme Court has ruled that he was wrongfully jailed, it is appropriate that he is reinstated, receives all his benefits and promoted to the appropriate rank”, Mr Sosu explained.