A former Magistrate of the Juvenile Court, Ms. Ana Jane Ghartey, who is standing trial before an Accra Circuit court on charges of fraud, yesterday kept mute when she was asked to cross-examine a witness in the absence of her lawyer.

Some minutes into the demands of the court, presided over by Justice Idrissu Mahamadou, the accused person, who was in dock together with her accomplice, Samuel Adu retorted, "I don't even remember anything".

The court then took the trouble to refresh the accused person with the earlier pieces of evidence given by the witness, Prof. Joseph K. Adjaye of the Department of African Studies, University of Pittsburgh, who is also the complainant in the case.

Even after reading through all the court proceedings to the accused person, Ana Jane Ghartey, could not cross-examine the witness, as the court insisted she should, since he had to come all the way from Sunyani, where he is on transfer to Accra by public transport, due to lack of vehicle, to adjudicate over the case. "I cannot wait for any lawyer", the court asserted, despite pleas from the accused person for the court to wait for her lawyer, who was supposedly before the Supreme Court.

According to the court, it had been given three weeks to complete the case and, therefore, sought the cooperation of all parties in having a speedy trial. At exactly 11.30 am, when the accused person's lawyers, Mr. Bright Akwettey arrived in court, the accused person, who had been sacked from the bench, then spoke indicating that she wanted a photocopy of what the judge read, adding that there were so many untruths in the evidence given by the witness.

Meanwhile, the 3rd accused person, Rose Nyarko, was not present as the court read a note it received, indicating that she had been taken ill as a result of a swollen leg and could not walk. On arrival of Mr. Akwettey, he formally inform the court of a motion filed on behalf on his client at the Fast Track Court, seeking a prohibition order against the sitting judge since they could not have justice before him.

According to counsel, having drawn the court's attention to the process filed, it should adjourn proceedings until the matter is dealt with. However, the court indicated that it had not yet received the process, stressing that until he was asked not to continue with the hearing, the court had the mandate tol go ahead with the case.

Counsel then noted that it was due to bureaucratic procedures at the court registry that the process had not been served on the judge. The court, therefore, adjourned proceedings to today, March 10, 2010, to see if the process would be served on him, noting that if he had the process on his docket, he will then see what will be done.

The three accused persons are before the court for defrauding Prof. Joseph K. Adjaye of the Department of Africana Studies, University of Pittsburgh to the value of GH¢30,000 in the latter part of 2006.

They had pleaded not guilty on three counts of defrauding and altering of documents. The court had, therefore, granted Ana Ghartey and Adu bail to the tune of GH¢30,000 each and GH¢20,000 bail granted to Rose Nyarko.

Police prosecutors had indicated to the court that the accused person, who allegedly represented the owner of the land, sold plots of land in Adjiringano, a suburb of Accra to Prof. Adjaye over a period from December 2006 to August 2007, which were completely paid for, including document preparation and consent letter for the sale of the land by the Teshie Chiefs, as well as other land documentation.

The documents prepared by the accused person on several demands by the complainant turned out as fake, with investigations conducted at the Lands Commission, showing the deed assignors were wrong and forged.

Ms. Ghartey, having promised the complainant to prepare proper documentation for the two plots of land purchased, advised Prof. Adjaye, to commence putting up a structure on one of the lands only to be demolished by one Mr. Agbenator, who claimed to be the legitimate owner of the land.

The accused person, according to the complainant, failed to act when she was informed about developments on the land as demands for refund yielded little results, even though Ms. Ghartey had under an agreement promised to repay the amount involved in March 2008.

The court was further told that Ms. Ghartey persuaded Prof. Adjaye to give her "Power of Attorney", while the latter was away in the U.S.A and subsequently attempted to use the fake indenture bearing the complainant's name to sell the same land to one Mr. Awuku, who identified the fraud and put an end to the purchase.