Don't blame judges for undesirable verdicts-Justice Dotse

A Supreme Court Judge has asked Ghanaians to refrain from blaming judges when verdicts don’t go as expected.

Justice Jones Dotse says the court adjudicate cases based on the evidence provided by prosecutors, and cannot go beyond such evidence to make judgements.

Speaking at an event organized by a social action group, One Ghana Movement on Friday, the Justice noted that judges in Ghana, just like any other common law countries decide cases on the basis of the evidence that is adduced in the court. This creates some limitations as to what can be considered in order to reach a verdict.

He said that for instance, there are certain issues that have to be established before judgments are passed. “Somebody is dead, he died as a result of unlawful harm, that harm was intentionally caused by the accused. In putting forth this simple case, if you call witnesses without calling the pathologist who performed the medical examination, then it is contentious as to how the deceased died, how do you expect the judge or sometimes the jury to make up their mind on the cause of the death? So these are the issues you all must follow and understand,” 

Justice Dotse asked that the security agencies be supported and allowed to do their investigations thoroughly in order to produce water tight cases against defendants. Failure to so would inadvertently result in the acquittal of the accused based on evidence provided, much to the displeasure of the public, who will blame the judge for the decision.