TEKPA ALIAS DZOMAKU vs. THE STATE

JUDGMENT OF AZU CRABBE J.A. Azu Crabbe J.A. delivered the judgment of the court. In this case the appellant was convicted on 2 February 1965, before Sowah J. sitting with a jury, of the murder of one Yawo Gomashie. The case for the prosecution was briefly as follows: On or about 28 June 1964, the relatives of the deceased, Yawo Gomashie, observed that his behaviour was becoming abnormal, and they thought that he was getting insane. Three days after this illness had started the mother-in-law of the appellant visited the house where the deceased lived with his relatives, and she told the relatives that the appellant was a herbalist who cured insanity, and that if they took the deceased to him, he (the appellant) would cure him. Following this advice, four of the deceased’s relatives, later joined by one Joseph Gomashie (the first prosecution witness), took the deceased to the appellant’s house where he was admitted as a patient. Two other persons who lived in the house of the app...