This is the last time you’re crying in my court; cry before you come – Judge tells Aisha

15:13 - 24 July 2023

This is the last time you’re crying in my court; cry before you come – Judge to Aisha

Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, the High Court judge presiding over the trial involving Chinese national Aisha Huang over illegal mining and unauthorized entry into Ghana, has warned the suspect never to cry in her court again.

Reports say she gave the caution after the suspect broke down in tears during cross-examination on Monday, July 24, 2023, by the Director of Public Prosecution, Yvonne Attakorah Obuobisa.

The prosecutor stated to Huang that she deliberately reentered Ghana after her first repatriation, knowing she did not have the authorization to do so.

“Stop the interjection with the tears. It doesn’t do anything to me. The question is harmless, just answer and go.

“Today should be the last time you’re crying in my court. If you want to cry, cry in prison before you come to my court. If she cries again, it is deliberate. So, I don’t expect her to cry again,” Osei Marfo is quoted to have ordered Huang.

Meanwhile, the suspect told the court that she did not know that it was illegal for her to reenter Ghana after her repatriation.

Despite being repatriated in 2018 for a similar offence, Huang was arrested in 2022 for re-entering Ghana and engaging in illicit mining.

To prove the four charges proffered against her, the state has so far called eleven witnesses, including immigration authorities, police officers, and community leaders, to testify against her.