AFWIRENG vs. THE REPUBLIC

The appellant was charged with assault contrary to section 84 of the Criminal code, 1960 (Act 29), and was tried and convicted by a district magistrate, Accra, and sentenced to a fine of ¢50.00 or four months’ imprisonment with hard labour. A supplementary ground of appeal filed and argued before this court alleged that “the trial magistrate erred in law in holding that failure of the accused to file notice of alibi rendered it impossible for the court to believe him.” It is not necessary for me to go into the facts of the case in any detail. The complainant alleged in his evidence that the appellant picked up a piece of brick and threw it so that it hit his left eye, thus injuring him in that eye; the appellant denied that he did any such thing and said that, not only did he not know the complainant before seeing him in court, but that on the day he was alleged to have committed the assault, he the appellant, was not in the house as he “proceeded to Nsawam.” In commentin...