Dominic Ayine promises to sin no more as Supreme Court discharges him

Counsel for the former Attorney General Dr Dominic Ayine has assured the Supreme Court that his client will go and sin no more.

“My Lord, we thank you for your kindness, we promise we will go and sin no more,” Frank Beechem gave the assurance in court on Thursday.

His assurance comes after the panel at the country’s highest court pointed that they had seen the apology video and would act accordingly.

They urged the contemptnor to stay true to his word.

Also, present in court was counsel for the Electoral Commission Justin Amenuvor.

When asked why he came to court. He said he was here “to support his friend, brother, best friend and best man at his wedding.”

He thanked the court for striking out the charges against the legislator.

Also present were counsel for the petitioner, Tony Lithur, Marietta Brew, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, Edudzi Tamakloe among others.

What happened on February 16, 2021

In a post-hearing address to the media, Dr. Ayine accused the justices of having a pre-determined mindset against the petitioner.

“These are all germane issues under the constitution and laws of Ghana, to reduce the petition into a single issue petition is rather unfortunate and smacks of a predetermined agenda to rule against the petitioner in this matter,” he said.

Cautioning him in court Monday, Chief Justice Anin Yeboah said although the court will not fine or punish the Member of Parliament, it was important to take some necessary action to serve as a deterrent to other team members who may be towing the same path.

“We, however, order that the contemnor purges his contempt by retracting the scandalous statements on the very same medium before Thursday when the court will reconvene to hear the contempt case,” the CJ ordered.

Counsel for the former deputy Minister of Justice and Attorney General assured the court that his client had taken a cue from the advice of the justices, and would not repeat such again.

Dominic Ayine’s apology

The former deputy Attorney General publicly retracted and apologised for his slanderous comment against the Supreme court on February 23, 2021.

“I am here this evening in respect of the remarks that I made to you on February 16, 2021, after court proceedings. Those remarks were widely publicised by the media. I have looked at what I said that day and have come to the conclusion that I went over board.

“I crossed the line with respect to the remarks that I made in terms of attributing inappropriately to the Supreme of the Republic of Ghana and I just wanted to let you know that this morning, I delivered a letter to his Lordship, the Chief Justice offering an unqualified apology to the court.

“I reflected on that day and realised I had crossed the line, I wish to unreservedly apologise to the court as well as the justices who sat on that day. There was no intention on my part to impugn with integrity, I was just expressing a sentiment with respect to the ruling on that day and I want to render an unqualified apology.

Dr Ayine promised not to repeat the same mistake and vowed to be of good behavior going forward.