[1977]DLCA1427December 31, 1976Court of Appeal

SENE AND ANOTHER vs. THE REPUBLIC

The appellants, brothers, were convicted of the murder of William Kwame Kwadam. The accepted facts were that the first appellant engaged in an unlawful fight with the deceased, during which the second appellant threw a heavy stone at the deceased from behind. After being felled by the stone, the first appellant continued to assault the deceased, who subsequently died from injuries inflicted by the appellants.

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JUDGMENT OF AMISSAH J.A. The appellants are brothers. They were convicted of the murder of one William Kwame Kwadam. The story which the jury must have accepted was that the first appellant engaged in an unlawful fight with the deceased and that in the course of the fight, the second appellant threw a heavy stone at the deceased from the back. That after he had been felled by the stone, the first appellant continued raining blows on him. The deceased subsequently died from injuries ascribed to the appellants into attack on him. Various criticisms have been levelled in this court at the summing-up of the judge. None of them is of substance to detain us except the criticisms as to the learned trial judge’s treatment of the question of intent and his lack of treatment of the issue of provocation. If it is accepted that the deceased died as a result of an unlawful fight with the appellants, then the question is whether the appellants had an intention to cause his death. The.....