OKYERE AND ANOTHER vs. THE REPUBLIC

In July 1992, the appellants and two others were arraigned before the Ashanti Regional Public Tribunal on charges of conspiracy to commit forgery, forgery, altering a forged document, and abetment of forgery related to a will purportedly prepared by the first appellant, a legal practitioner, for the deceased John Emmanuel Ansah. The complainant, claiming to be the customary successor, alleged the will was forged to bequeath a house to the first accused, one of the deceased's daughters. Police forensic examination showed the signature on the will was not that of the deceased, but no evidence linked the accused to the forgery. The prosecution's case was largely based on rumors and uncalled material witnesses. The tribunal acquitted the first accused but convicted the others, including the appellants, primarily because they could not explain the forged signature's origin.

JUDGEMENT Adzoe JSC. Delivered the judgment of the court. In July 1992 the appellants herein and two others were arraigned before the Ashanti Regional Public Tribunal on various charges of conspiracy to commit forgery, forgery, altering a forged document and abetment of forgery. The case was The People v Agnes Ansah, Kwame Amponsah Okyere, Adu Gyamfi Kumaning and Benjamin Kofi Andoh. The offences were in connection with a will purported to have been prepared by the first appellant herein, Kwame Amponsah Okyere, a legal practitioner, for the deceased John Emmanuel Ansah. The complainant who claimed to be the customary successor of the deceased claimed that the will was not the will of the deceased and his suspicion was that the accused persons conspired to forge a will bequeathing a house to the first accused, Agnes Ansah, one of the daughters of the deceased. The suspicion of forgery centred largely on the signature which purported to be that of the deceased testator. According t...