By Peterkins Manyong
The chief suspect in the grueso me murder in 2004, of John Kohtem, the Balikumbat SDF Chairman, Fon Doh Gah Gwanyin III and 11 others, were Monday, January 30 arraigned in the Ndop High Court. The charges against them were read out and they pleaded not guilty.The matter was adjourned.The court also ruled that the suspects would appear before it for three consecutive days beginning from Wednesday, February 8, 2006.

The court told Fon Doh that his bail, obtained soon after his interrogation, was over. The presiding Judge indicated that Fon Doh had behaved well during the period of Preliminary Investigation by being regular and always conducting himself respectfully.
For that reason, the court saw nothing wrong in extending his bail. He was, however, told that he could only be granted bail in the sum of FCFA 5 million if he brought sureties with landed property in Ndop. He was immediately conducted to the court registry from where he emerged only after several hours. The Post learnt that it wasn’t very easy, finding someone to take him on bail. He, however, succeeded in getting two sureties who pledged landed property.
The other 11 suspects were taken back to detention after failure by their lawyers to secure bail for them. In denying the suspects bail, the court argued that the application for bail had first been examined and rejected by the Ndop High Court. An appeal was filed which the Bamenda Court of Appeal is now examining. The Ndop high Court could therefore not come back to it.

It should be recalled that Fon Doh and 11 other suspects were told they had a case to answer some time last month, after Preliminary Investigation that lasted from June to September 2005. During the PI, the 11 witnesses and one of the 11 suspects were declared implicated in Kohtem’s murder.
Kohtem’s sympathizers wanted him to immediately join the other 11 suspects who had since been denied bail despite frantic efforts by their lawyers to persuade the investigators to grant their request.
Three judges handled the matter .The courtroom was full to capacity. If found guilty, Fon Doh and fellow suspects, could serve jail terms of between six and 2o years each, following Section 278 of the Penal Code with no option of a fine.
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