[1961]DLSC1325 • March 17, 1961 • Supreme Court •
THE STATE vs. KWADJO OFORI
The appellant, Kwadjo Ofori, attacked his wife, Afua Asantewa, with a cutlass, inflicting fatal injuries due to uncontrollable jealousy and suspicion of adultery with Kwabena Awortwi, a relative living with the deceased and her parents. On the morning of the incident, without any provocation or exchange of words, the appellant suddenly appeared and attacked the deceased while she and her mother were going to the farm. The deceased died later that day in hospital from the injuries sustained.
read moreJUDGMENT OF VAN LARE, J.S.C. Van Lare JSC delivered the judgment of the court. The evidence including that of the appellant himself is overwhelming in support of the learned trial judge’s finding that the appellant attacked his wife in a most savage way and literally butchered her to death because he was uncontrollably jealous and suspected his wife of having committed adultery with one Kwabena Awortwi. For some time previously, the appellant had been under the impression that the deceased, his wife, had been illicitly associating with the man Kwabena Awortwi, a relative who had been staying in the same house with the deceased and her parents. On the morning of the fatal day the deceased and her mother were going to the farm, and, not far away from the house, the appellant suddenly appeared, armed with a cutlass and attacked the deceased. The appellant had on the previous evening quarrelled with the deceased, and appeared so angry that he had to be taken home by his wife’s fathe...