POBEE ALIAS ARKO vs. THE REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT OF TWUMASI J. The accused who is arraigned on indictment before this court for having committed the first degree felony of attempted murder contrary to section 48 of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29), has pleaded “not guilty” to the charge. He, however, prays the court to accept a plea of “guilty” to the lesser offence of causing intentional and unlawful harm contrary to section 69 of the same Code aforesaid. The facts of the case are, inter alia, that the accused inflicted severe cutlass wounds on his wife with the obvious intention of killing her. Miraculously, the wife did not succumb to the wounds. Hence the charge of attempted murder. These facts are being outlined here to enable everybody to appreciate the serious consequences of the matter in its proper perspective. To my mind, it would be nothing short of a mockery of justice, if a person who commits a serious offence and ought to face the full rigours of the law, were to be allowed to plead guilty to a l...