ADAMU DAGARTI vs. THE STATE

JUDGMENT OF BRUCE-LYLE J.S.C. Bruce-Lyle J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. This is an appeal against a conviction for murder dated 5 November 1963 at the Criminal Session, Tamale. The case for the prosecution is that on 30 November 1962 the deceased Kojo Banda who was a lorry driver’s mate travelled on duty in his master’s lorry No. AF 1958 from Kumasi to Hamile in the Upper Region; apart from his master, there was a co-mate by name Dina Dagarti, the second prosecution witness on the lorry. They arrived at Hamile at about 9 p.m. and the master Kwame Bonsu left his two mates on the lorry at the Hamile lorry park where other vehicles were parked and he went to a nearby house to sleep. Whilst the first prosecution witness and the deceased were sleeping in the body of the lorry, the appellant who carried articles of clothing went to the lorry and asked the deceased to allow him to sleep in the lorry; the appellant then climbed into the body of the lorry and lay near the de...