[1965]DLSC1824 • April 30, 1965 • Supreme Court •
LARTI vs. THE STATE
The appellant, Larti, and the deceased, Kwadjo Asare, lived in the same house in Abenabo village near Suhum. After a series of confrontations involving insults and accusations of infidelity between the appellant and the deceased, culminating in an arbitration and a temporary reconciliation, the appellant later attacked the deceased with a cutlass, inflicting multiple fatal wounds. The appellant surrendered himself to the police, admitting to the killing, citing provocation and insults as motives.
read moreJUDGMENT OF BRUCE-LYLE J.S.C. Bruce-Lyle J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. This is an appeal from a conviction for murder entered at the Criminal Session of the High Court held at Accra on 22 April 1964. The case for the prosecution is that the appellant and the deceased Kwadjo Asare lived in the same house in Abenabo village near Suhum. The deceased shared the same room with one Yaa Manko, the ninth prosecution witness and his brother’s wife, who is also the appellant’s cousin. On the evening of Friday 20 September 1964 the appellant visited the ninth prosecution witness and the deceased in their room, conversed with them for some time and when he was about to leave he insulted the deceased, saying that he was a beast and had no sense; when the ninth prosecution witness asked him for his reason for saying so, the appellant said nothing and went away and left the house. He later returned to the house when the ninth prosecution witness and the deceased had locked their do...