[1993]DLCA4971 • June 24, 1993 • Court of Appeal
ODUPONG vs. REPUBLIC
The appellant was charged with murder for shooting and killing his wife, Mary Akosua Asantewaah, on 2 July 1988. He pleaded not guilty, claiming the gun fired accidentally during a struggle with the deceased who tried to prevent him from going hunting. The prosecution alleged deliberate shooting. The appellant gave inconsistent accounts of the incident at different stages, and witnesses testified hearing the deceased scream that the appellant was shooting her.
read moreBROBBEY JA. The appellant was charged with murder, contrary to section 46 of the Criminal Code 1960 (Act 29). According to the prosecution, the facts which gave rise to the charge are that on 2 July 1988, the appellant twice shot and killed his wife, Mary Akosua Asantewaah, in his room at Berekum. The appellant pleaded not guilty to the charge. His defence was that the gun fired accidentally and killed the deceased. After a trial by jury, he was convicted of the offence of murder. It was against that conviction and sentence that he appealed to this court. In arguing the appeal, Mr Mensah who appeared for the appellant contended that the trial judge failed to give adequate consideration to the case of the appellant. That submission is not borne out by the evidence on record and the summing up. Throughout the period spanning the time of the death of the deceased up to the end of the trial, the appellant put up only one defence which was that of accidental killing. In the summing up, th...