Kofi Essel, legal counsel for Daniel Owusu Koranteng, a former associate of the late investigative journalist Ahmed Suale, has strongly criticised the Madina District Court’s decision to charge his client with murder in connection with Suale’s death.

Describing the charge as “shambolic,” Essel accused authorities of pursuing a baseless case driven by hearsay and ulterior motives.

The court ruled to charge Koranteng with one count of murder after initially considering charges of abetment. Authorities claim Koranteng was near Suale’s residence in Madina at the time of the journalist’s fatal shooting in January 2019.

However, Essel has rejected these claims, insisting that the prosecution lacks concrete evidence to support the charges.

“The police hurriedly put a charge together on the offense of murder. First, they were talking about abetment, now we are talking about a surprise charge sheet of one count of murder. They prayed to the court to remand our client with no basis. I describe this as a shambolic charge sheet.

“Because they have nothing on our client. It is just a multitude of allegations on hearsay that have been put together. It is just for someone’s career to shoot up, and someone has to go down; that is a witch-hunt, and we are going to deal with that,” he stated.