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Lead Counsel for the Petitioners, Lawyer Philip Addison, wore his heart on his sleeve on Wednesday when he openly told the Nine Justices of the Supreme Court adjudicating on the election petition suit that he does not trust legal teams of the Respondents nor their Witness "one bit" to leave a document belonging to the petitioners in their custody. The drama unfolded when Lawyer Philip Addison requested that Dr. Afari Gyan return a document he handed over to him for identification. Dr Afari Gyan had earlier identified the document to be the voters register for Adaklu Constituency but said he cannot be sure if this was the same register given to the NPP. Counsel then asks if witness is doubting the authenticity of the register before him. Dr Afari Gyan then pleaded with the court to allow him keep the petitioners� document and cross-check with the copy in the custody of the Electoral Commission before answering questions on it. He promised to return it tomorrow (Thursday) morning. Counsel for the Petitioners resists saying he will not allow witness to take the register home. He then proceeded to demand that his copy be returned to him and said he would instead give the witness an electronic copy. Counsel for the EC, Quarshie-Idun also stepped in and asked what Mr. Addison was afraid of in leaving the document with the second respondents. Quarshie-Idun also insisted that the document be marked for identification before being given to Dr. Afari-Gyan. But Lawyer Addison vowed that he would not allow witness for the second respondent to take away the document if the court was not ready to keep it in its custody. The court could not understand the reason behind this demand and enquired from counsel. Lawyer Addison then revealed why. �They seem not to trust me and they want me to trust them; I don�t trust them one bit�the document can be in the custody of the Court, I will not let them take this document away...I don�t trust them one bit. One bit, I don�t," he blurted. Justice Vida Akoto Bamfo then drew Mr. Addison�s attention to his choice of language and asked if it was not sad that he made those comments before the court. He explained the reason behind his harsh criticism on his learned colleagues stating that their attitude triggered him to use such words. �Well, My Lord I have said what has not been said, their attitude. I wanted my document, look at their attitude they put up here, it�s so sad. I�m sad. That they should even think that I�ll take this document and because I�ve doctored it. Really?...� replied Addison. Justice Baffoe Bonnie also attempted to calm nerves. "Mr. Addison, you were a few minutes ago talking about the shifting of the goalpost. You see, you are seeking to put this document in evidence and asking questions on it and the witness says, I want to check and compare. So if you decide to take the document back, what is he going to compare with? What is he going to be comparing with?" he asked. But Mr. Addison would not be moved as he replied, "that is why, if your lordship will recall, yesterday, for the avoidance of all this and this kind of petty mistrust I said they should bring their document, they should bring their register and they didn�t accept it. You see, to avoid all these doubts I said bring yours, if your lordship will recall that was my request yesterday. They refused and I have brought this and look at all this doubt that is being created. Now it is that they want the soft copy, so I said bring me back the document I�ll bring you the soft copy. He again repeated his distrust of the Respondents by saying: ��I do not think that I will leave it with this Witness, they have been so untruthful throughout this proceedings, I don�t trust them one bit�. Baffoe Bonnie sharply rebukes Mr. Addison, who, by then, was entangled in a chat-back with the Bench, by asking him to �please listen to me; when I�m talking you have to keep quiet�. "�Please listen to me, when I�m talking you have to keep quiet. You see this message has been delivered so many times. Whatever you say, is to the bench. If you say you don�t trust, if you use any negative words, they impact negatively on the bench, so you shouldn�t be using those words, that is clear and simple. I don�t see why you don�t get it. I mean these�What, what, what can we be doing here if we have to be throwing words at each other? We can�t achieve anything. The people of Ghana want the truth and justice so if you have any� if you don�t trust them, this is not the way of going about it, keep it to yourself, this whole thing is being broadcast live and then the whole international community get to know that this is the language that is being used in the Ghanaian courts? I mean, clearly it�s wrong,� Justice Baffoe Bonnie averred. Lawyer Addison quickly replies in protest saying far more serious and derogatory comments had been made by counsel for the respondents in previous sittings which did not attract the opprobrium of the Bench and made reference to a comment by counsel for the NDC, Tsatsu Tsikata, imputing �criminality� to the petitioners. �Well My Lord, I hear you except to say that far serious and stronger words have been used in this courtroom without any comment from the Bench; criminality has been used to apply to us, not a word came from anywhere,� Lawyer Addison said. The President of the Bench, William Atuguba then stepped in and cautioned Lawyer Addison to refrain from impugning the integrity of the judges. He defended the rulings of the Court by saying "Now, let us say this, it�s not everything that the bench must specifically comment upon. Sometimes a general statement is made that covers what has arisen. If it comes and no complaint is made or it passes we feel that ok�, "We�ve always said that lawyers appearing, both at common law and all the statutes required of the legal profession act, are officers of the court. We have those powers to deal with the conduct of any lawyer appearing before us, so many � we can walk you out, we can deal with you for contempt, we can refer you to the disciplinary committee � all these are ample powers. But we feel that power is for the benefit of human beings and not for its sake� If you feel that we are failing in our duty and we start punching then that is not our fault. So ok, finally, and all you here are our witnesses, the slate, for the final time has been wiped clean. Let�s proceed."