[2009]DLSC2714 • July 29, 2009 • Supreme Court •
MATHEW KWAME SABBAH vs. THE REPUBLIC
The appellant was convicted of murder for killing the deceased, Amegbor Amedorme, during an altercation on Adornukedzi Island. The deceased and two others went to inspect palm trees on land claimed by the appellant's family. A confrontation ensued where the deceased allegedly attacked the appellant with a cutlass, injuring his wrist and knee. The appellant responded by inflicting multiple cutlass wounds on the deceased, including a near decapitation. The appellant claimed self-defense and provocation, stating he was defending himself and that the deceased initiated the attack. The prosecution witnesses corroborated the attack by the appellant, noting the deceased was slashed multiple times and left behind after the others fled.
read moreSOPHIA ADINYIRA (MRS) JSC: This appeal is against the judgment of the Court of Appeal dated 20 January 2004 which affirmed the conviction and sentence of the appellant for murder. The appellant was tried and convicted together with another person by an Accra High Court upon a verdict of a Jury on 7 August 2001, on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and murder. On appeal, the other person was acquitted and discharged on both counts. The Court of Appeal acquitted the appellant on the conspiracy charge but affirmed the conviction for murder. The appellant accordingly appealed on the sole ground that: “On the totality of the evidence the trial judge misdirected the jury by non-direction on the defences of provocation and justifiable harm available to the appellant, and the dismissal of the same defences by the Appellate Court occasioned miscarriage of justice to appellant” The case for the prosecution was that on 21 Jan 1993, the deceased Amegbor Amedorme took John Narteh Amer...