COMMISSIONER OF POLICE vs. SEM

The appellant was charged with defilement of a female between ten and fourteen years, alleged to have occurred in April 1961 at Kokomlemle. The complainant, a 12-year-old schoolgirl and maidservant, testified that the appellant attempted sexual intercourse with her at night near a water tap behind the house where they lived. The appellant was convicted not of defilement but of the lesser offence of indecent assault and sentenced to six months imprisonment with hard labour. The medical evidence showed the hymen was intact and semen was found in the vaginal smear, but the timing conflicted with the complainant's account. The appellant had also signed a document confessing to intercourse, but the confession was found to be involuntary and excluded. The case against the appellant was weak and contradictory, particularly due to the medical evidence and the circumstances of the confession.

JUDGMENT OF ADUMUA-BOSSMAN J.S.C. Adumua Bossman J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. This appeal arises out of the prosecution of the appellant in the Circuit Court, Accra, presided over by Mrs. Annie Jiagge, on the charge On the charge of “Defilement of female between ten and fourteen years of age, contrary to section 102 (1) of the Criminal Code: Act No. 29/60,” the particulars of which charge were that he “during the month of April 1961, at Kokomlemle within the jurisdiction of the court, did carnally know one Aba Mindwenbu, a female between ten and fourteen years of age.” He was convicted, not of that graver charge preferred, but of the lesser offence of indecent assault, and sentenced to six months imprisonment with hard labour, the trail judge explaining that: “The evidence, however, falls short of what is required to prove defilement of a female. The doctor’s evidence was that the hymen was not broken. I find the charge of indecent assault proved. I fin...