ADDAI vs. THE REPUBLIC

The appellant was convicted by the High Court at Cape Coast on 9 July 1971 for the murder of Ama Jasiwah and sentenced to death. The prosecution’s case was that on 20 December 1970 the deceased was seen going to her farm, with the appellant following her carrying a cutlass. Later that day her body was found on a bush path with deep cut wounds at the back of the neck, lying in a pool of blood. Evidence was led that the appellant was later traced to Kumasi, where he allegedly made incriminating statements, and during police investigations he allegedly led officers to places connected with the offence and to items said to have been purchased with money taken from the deceased. The defence was alibi: the appellant said he had travelled to Kumasi between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. that day for Christmas shopping, denied killing the deceased, denied the alleged confessions, and claimed he had been beaten by the police. Portion of judgment: “The defence was an alibi… The case for the defence was rested upon two main grounds: 1 Alibi. 2 Denial of the statements alleged to have been made by the appellant at the scene of the crime.”

He delivered the judgment of the court. The appellant was convicted before Edward Wiredu J. in the High Court of Justice, Central Region, Cape Coast, on 9 July 1971, of the murder of a woman, Ama Jasiwah, and was sentenced to death. The case for the prosecution can be briefly stated. On 20 December 1970 at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the dead body of the deceased was found by one John Kwame Boahin alias Kwaku Badu in the middle of a footpath in a bush at a village called Bethlehem, near Dunkwa, in the Central Region. The distance from this spot to the village was about one-and-a-half miles. Without closely examining the dead body, John Kwame Boahin immediately ran back to the village and made a report to the odikro of the village. He was accompanied to the scene in the bush by messengers of the odikro, and at this time he saw some wounds at the back of the neck of the deceased. One of these messengers, Augustin Kofi Edunyah, identified the body as that of Ama Jasiwah. The la.....