R. vs. YEBOAH

The appellant in this case was convicted before Adumua-Bossman J., sitting with a jury, of the murder of his mother at Asiakwa in the Eastern Region on the 11th January, 1959. On the evidence there could be no doubt that the appellant caused the death of his mother by stabbing her with a knife, after there had been between him and the mother some trivial dispute as to money, as to a missing letter and as to the appellant’s desire to travel to Jasikan, to which his mother would not consent. The only defence that could be (or was) set up by learned Counsel for the appellant was that he was insane at the time he committed the offence. There was, in our opinion, insufficient evidence to establish this in law. No medical evidence was called and the case for the appellant rested on no more than a suggestion by the appellant that he had been under medical treatment for a considerable time before his return to his mother’s house, which was about a week before he killed her, and that his...