KETSIAWAH vs. THE STATE

JUDGMENT OF OLLENNU J.S.C. Ollennu J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. The appellant was convicted of murder by the High Court, Sekondi, upon the verdict of a jury. The victim of the crime, one Ekua Ampomah, was the wife of the appellant but had been divorced by him about eighteen months prior to the day of the offence. The main ground of appeal argued by counsel is that the learned trial judge misdirected the jury by failing to direct them to return the special verdict provided in section 28 (3) of the Criminal Code, 1960.1 On the fateful day, the appellant who said he was leaving the village where he had lived with the deceased to return to his own village, invited the deceased to go with him to a farm; he said he was going to uproot some yams he had planted, and wanted the woman to know the quantity he would leave on the farm. The two of them were seen together leaving the village, and that was the last time that any of the witnesses for the prosecution saw the deceased ...