Aisha Huang, the Chinese woman accused of engaging in illegal mining, on Wednesday broke down when the Accra High Court turned down her application for bail again.
However, Aisha Huang’s lawyer, Captain Retired (Captrtd) Nkrabeah Effah Dartey, re-applied for bail, explaining that her client was on bail during her trial in 2017.
The defence counsel said: “I am not saying you should leave her. I am only asking that as the case continues, please allow her liberty in terms of movement, subject to the condition that the court would indicate.
“Five years ago, while my client was on trial on similar charges, she never absented herself from any of the court sitting dates.”
But, the Court, presided over by Mrs Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, refused the application, saying the trial was moving at a faster pace, adding that the accused is a foreigner without social or other ties in the jurisdiction and is a flight risk.
Mrs Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, the Director of Public Prosecutions, led Superintendent of Immigration, Reuben RansfordAborabora, first prosecution witness, in evidence.
Sup Aborabora, said that on May 5, 2017, he led six other officers of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) to verify the validity of permits of foreign nationals in the country.
The officers, attached to the Enforcement Unit of GIS, went to Bepotenten in the Amansie Central District in the Ashanti Region for the mission.
Supt. Aborabora said the team received information that some Chinese and others were engaging in illegal mining at Bepotenten, in Ashanti Region, despite the ban on the activity by government.
On reaching Bepotenten, the first prosecution witness said, the officers found a container with machine parts, barrels containing fuel, six excavators out of which four were in use at a mining site, at a cocoa farm.
Supt. Aborabora said the team arrested four Chinese, including Gao Jin Cheng, who informed them that they were at the site to engage in mining for Aisha.
The prosecution witness said when the officers requested the four to produce their passports, they said the documents were with Aisha.
Supt. Aboraborasaid he recorded the mining (activities) at Bepotenten on his mobile phone and transferred it to a Compact Disc and later to a pen drive. The video recording was thus played in court, as evidence.
Answering questions under cross-examination by Capt. (rtd) Effah Dartey, Sup Aborabora said that Aisha was not at the mining site at Bepotenten when the team made the arrest.
Aisha is being held for allegedly engaging in illegal mining at Bepotenten, in the Ashanti Region, in the year 2017, for undertaking mining without a license and facilitating the participation of persons engaged in mining.
Aisha is also facing an additional charge of illegal employment of foreigners and entering Ghana while she had been prohibited from doing so.
