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A teacher accused of setting fire to sections of the Kantamanto market on Tuesday appeared in Kaneshie District Court in Accra.
Daniel Komla Dah, accused of causing illegal damage, has pleaded not guilty.
The court presided over by Rosemary Egyiri admitted him on bail for ¢ 300,000 with two bonds to be justified. The bonds, the court said, must provide residential addresses within the jurisdiction.
In addition, the court ordered the defendant to report to the police on the first Monday of each month. Dah will reappear on January 4 of next year.
Previously, Dah’s attorney, Theophilus Donkor, had prayed to the court to admit his client on bail.
According to Mr. Donkor, according to article 19 (2) (c), the accused is presumed innocent until a court of competent jurisdiction proves his guilt.
Donkor said his client was arrested on December 18 this year, but had been kept in custody to date.
“The police have committed an illegality by keeping him in their custody and they have also violated the mandatory 48-hour rule,” he said.
The defense attorney said that Dah was a subject teacher at Tsito-Awudome in the Volta region, but resides in Ho with his family.
The prosecution led by Detective Sergeant Richard Amoah objected to bail, saying that when Dah was granted bail it would interfere with police investigations.
According to Detective Sergeant Amoah, the investigation into the matter has only just begun and police feared that when Dah was granted bail he would interfere with evidence on his Facebook account.
He said police were seeking the court’s order to access the details of the suspect’s Facebook account.
“The bond would not restrict access to his Facebook account,” he added.
The facts of the prosecution are that the defendant resides in Ho in the Volta region.
He said that on December 15 of this year there was a fire outbreak in Kantamnato in which many shops, goods and other properties, amounting to several million Ghana cedis, were burned.
The prosecution said that “it is suspected that the cause of the fire was arson.”
The prosecution said that on December 18 this year, the suspect was arrested in Ho for investigation and it was revealed that Dah is a member of a Facebook group chat platform called NDC Administrator.
According to the prosecution, on December 14 of this year, the defendants posted a message on their platform to say “tomorrow we will burn Kantamanto.”
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the defendant in his statement of reprimand has denied the crime.
Meanwhile, the prosecution said investigations are ongoing.
