Frank Laverick and David Logan - Ghana

July 06

Update as of February 2007:

Frank and David have now returned to the UK after being acquitted by the Supreme Court in Accra.

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This month we are highlighting the case of two British citizens, Frank Laverick (on the left) and David Logan (on the right), who have been in a prison in Ghana since January 2004. Both men were convicted in October 2004 and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with labour for:

-    criminal conspiracy to commit an offence relating to narcotics, and

-    possession of narcotics without lawful authority

588.33kg of cocaine were imported into Ghana and taken to a house belonging to a co-accused.

In the early hours of 7 January 2004, officers went to the house and arrested everyone there. They conducted a search and after some 7 hours, found the drugs hidden in a secret compartment behind a mirror in the hallway. The owner of the house admitted that he had built this compartment to store valuables and that he had agreed to the safekeeping of the drugs for another person in return for a payment of $50,000.

David Logan arrived in Ghana on 2 January 2004 and Frank Laverick on 6 January. Both men planned to travel onto Nigeria for business and claimed that they were simply guests at the house and were completely unaware of the existence of the drugs.

The prosecution based their case on circumstantial evidence, claiming that Frank and David had previously to South America and Europe with the co-defendant (no evidence was offered). Frank said that he had been to South America with the co-defendant but for legitimate business purposes. David denied having ever been to Europe with him.

No witnesses were able to give evidence that Frank or David had been involved in conspiracy or possession of drugs. Consequently, the Chief State Attorney withdrew the Republic’s support for the convictions. The Court of Appeal ignored this and dismissed the appeals.

David and Frank have appealed to the Supreme Court.

Fair Trial Issues

1. The Attorney-General made public prejudicial pre-trial statements, presupposing guilt and constituting a strong appearance of bias against the defendants. Similar remarks by the Interior Minister amounted to improper intervention into matters which should remain the sole preserve of an independent judiciary.
2. Throughout the trial and judgment, the judge used unsupported evidence in order to support the case against Frank and David.
3. In summing up, the judge raised matters that had not previously been put to the defendants. Adverse findings of credibility were made, based on their failure to tender evidence in rebuttal. By doing so, the judge in effect acted as an additional witness for the prosecution, immune to cross-examination or challenge.
4. The behaviour of the judge was not given due consideration at the Court of Appeal.
5. The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction despite the Chief State Attorney withdrawing support for the case.

Counsel Richard Roberts analysed court proceedings and FTA lawyer Sabine Zanker attended the appeal hearing at the Supreme Court in Accra. The Ghanaian authorities denied consent for a prison visit to speak to her clients, even though the Ministry of the Interior was approached with the request. Nevertheless, she was impressed by the professionalism of the Supreme Court judges.