An Accra High Court has granted the deposed Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson permission to be absent from the next adjourned date of his criminal trial.
The trial is being conducted on a day-to-day basis amidst claims by a section of the populace that the move is aimed at frustrating the NDC’s parliamentary candidate in the build-up to the upcoming by-election in the constituency, scheduled for Tuesday, June 27, 2023.
The court which is hearing the perjury and forgery case against Gyakye Quayson has fixed Friday, June 23, 2023, to determine a motion seeking to halt the trial from continuing until after the by-election.
Trial judge, Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, who fixed the date, said Quayson could choose not to attend proceedings on the date set for the ruling.
The motion filed by lawyers for Gyakye Quayson wants the court, which had earlier ruled for the trial to be conducted on a daily basis to vary its orders and grant permission for the case to be continued after Tuesday.
In the motion, Quayson’s lawyers argued that hearing the case on the said dates would negatively impact Quayson’s chances in the elections.