BILLA MOSHIE vs. THE REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT OF ANIN J.A. Anin J.A. delivered the judgment of the court. The appellant was on 24 March 1977 found guilty by the Sunyani High Court by the unanimous verdict of a seven-man jury of the charge of murdering one Musah Moshie and was duly convicted and sentenced to death. The deceased was a watchman employed by the Techiman Distillers Co-operative Society to guard by day and night their precious akpeteshie distilling installations and drums for storing finished akpeteshie; and the appellant was his houseboy or possibly a co-watchman. The prosecution rested their case on the evidence of two witnesses and on an alleged confession statement of the appellant. Their first witness, Kwame Ankama, a committee member of the Distillers Co-operative Society, recounted how the appellant, “holding a lantern and carrying a bow and arrows,” knocked at his door at about 9.30 p.m. on the day of the incident. On being let in, the appellant announced to him that he had killed a thief...